Coldwater Lake & Mount St. Helens Cam

A Volcanic Landscape Reborn

The camera looks out over the terrain reshaped by the catastrophic May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The gaping crater lies roughly seven miles to the south-southeast, while the debris-avalanche deposits and regrown forests tell the story of a landscape steadily recovering across the decades.

The Story of Coldwater Lake

Coldwater Lake itself was created by the eruption, when a massive landslide dammed Coldwater Creek. Today its clear waters mirror South Coldwater Ridge and the Toutle River valley, forming one of the most striking features of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.

A Scientific Vantage Point

Mounted on the Science and Learning Center at Coldwater at about 3,100 feet (945 m) elevation, the camera offers a panoramic south-southeast view. The center serves as a hub for research and public education about the volcano and its remarkable ecological recovery.

Wildlife and Recovery

The monument protects an ongoing natural experiment as plants and animals return to the blast zone. Elk, deer, and countless birds now roam the slopes, making this a living laboratory of resilience framed by ridgelines and the ever-changing volcanic sky.