This week’s dream:

Somewhere in the darkness overhead was the “angelically named peak that in 1980 unleashed America’s worst volcanic disaster,” said Hugo Martin in the Los Angeles Times. It was early morning, and we were about to climb to the 8,365-foot summit of Mount St. Helens. We were a diverse group—forest rangers, a fidgety boy, middle-aged women and men. Only two years ago, the summit was off-limits to hikers. In 2004 the volcano had come to life again, “venting steam, pushing out a slow-growing lava dome.” But since the danger of an imminent eruption now has passed, the Forest Service is again selling out its daily quota of 100 permits.

The earth was dewy-wet and layered with pine needles as we set off. By 7:30 a.m. we reached the timberline. Lying ahead were almost three miles of jagged rocks, most the size of a small car. We followed a path marked by 37 white wooden posts, and then scampered through a cloud layer. Peeking through the white fluff were the summits of other Cascade Range volcanoes—Mount Adams and Mount Hood. By 11 a.m. the first climbers had cleared the boulder field. The air was bitter cold, our legs could feel the strain of the climb, and wind whipped sand into our faces. At last I was able to peek down into the mile-wide crater. “Puffy white columns of steam” vented into the brisk air as I gazed at the volcano’s rocky dome 1,300 feet below. The startling sound of falling rocks broke the stillness. Fortunately, the dome remained motionless.

The lava dome produces the equivalent of about “700 dump trucks of rock and soil daily.” Like earthquakes, though, volcanoes don’t operate on a schedule: Both are “capricious and violent.” We were all ready to begin our descent. But the fidgety boy, who had reached the summit first, now collapsed—the victim of leg cramps. Storm clouds gathered as some of us helped the exhausted young hiker down. By 4:30 p.m. we again reached the timberline and struggled out of the forest at nightfall. As we drove away from the smoldering crater, we all breathed more easily.

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