The mountains lie hidden beneath a choking veil of toxic smoke that cloaks Mt. St. Helens as it does the entire West Coast of the United States. The dark forests and silent valleys are thick with the stench of millions of acres vanished in flame and burning ash. Even so many miles from the blazes that have torched Oregon, California, and Washington State the smog of these infernos has consumed the Pacific Northwest in its entirety. I flew my drone through this sickly stillness, driving ever higher into the mountains and launching from lofty viewpoints, but never could I rise above the haze and murk. I returned home stinking of smoke, having documented this historic catastrophe.
I really payed for this little adventure when I got home. My clothes absolutely reeked of smoke and my throat and lungs hurt despite having worn a mask. I'll definitely need to clean my Mavic 2 Pro out before I fly it again, but it was worth it to capture this footage. Fortunately the air is much improved this morning after a night of heavy rain, though air quality is still poor by comparison to pre-fire days.


I also created a bunch of aerial panoramas, which I've posted in a photo gallery on my blog: https://illuminationsfromtheattic.blogspot.com/2020/09/bridges-in-smoke-mt-st-helens-aerial.html

It is a sad sight, but well captured!

terrible scenes but captured really well - stay safe

Thank you both!

Fantastic shot!

Very well done and so eerie.

Apocalyptic!

Nice work.

wow - sad but nicely documented.

Illuminations Posted at 9-18 11:43
Thank you both!

You're welcome

Good grief what a catastrophe!  We in Europe read about it in the news, but nothing drives home the enormity and scale of the situation like your video. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. How true!  Thanks for the share.

hello

Very interesting Video to watch. Here it really shows the problem with all the Fires, around.

I appreciate your photo's. Pictures help people to understand, but no one can understand situations like this till they go through it. It was the same with my in-law's that were in the eye of hurricane Michael. What once was neighborhoods in a forest of trees, is now a neighborhood of of intense sun, in a desolation without trees. My friends that stayed through the storm, said they excepted the fact, that they were going to die. Fortunately, they didn't die, but went through years of content depression.  I have many before and after pictures, even some 360's photo's.

Sad to see this but amazing footage

Love the sepia colour, nice one...

Despite the tragedy, you've produced a great piece of work

Toedles Posted at 9-26 20:55
Love the sepia colour, nice one...

If you meant that the Op added a Sepia filter, I don't think he did (cannot say definitely since I did not take the footage). However, that appears to be true color of that event. It's how it looked around my house near Seattle WA. The footage captures very well how the Sun looked. You could look directly at the Sun without problems and see only a dull colored disk. It was indeed very, very eerie.

OP: Good footage and thanks for the sacrifice. No way I was going to go out in that mess.

NightThunder Posted at 10-1 12:59
If you meant that the Op added a Sepia filter, I don't think he did (cannot say definitely since I did not take the footage). However, that appears to be true color of that event. It's how it looked around my house near Seattle WA. The footage captures very well how the Sun looked. You could look directly at the Sun without problems and see only a dull colored disk. It was indeed very, very eerie.

OP: Good footage and thanks for the sacrifice. No way I was going to go out in that mess.

Nope, I didn't do any editing whatsoever to the footage!

Thanks to you and everyone else who commented - I'm glad to have made it through those horrible weeks, and I can only sympathize with everyone in California who is still enduring abysmal air quality.

Wow, that's unbelievable...

NightThunder Posted at 10-1 12:59
If you meant that the Op added a Sepia filter, I don't think he did (cannot say definitely since I did not take the footage). However, that appears to be true color of that event. It's how it looked around my house near Seattle WA. The footage captures very well how the Sun looked. You could look directly at the Sun without problems and see only a dull colored disk. It was indeed very, very eerie.

OP: Good footage and thanks for the sacrifice. No way I was going to go out in that mess.

Impressive nevertheless.....

Impressive one

I'm impressive I decided to stay grounded that week further south. Talk about memories of Mount St. Helens and the Sky turned Dark When it did it's thing back in May 1980.
Not sure if you remember that or learned of it.
The fires out west are fitting in for things happening in 2020 sad to say. Thanks for sharing.

Great shot

terrible scenery. nature can be so brutal. But really interesting footage

Brave flying u did

So sad to see, but thank you for your video journal of the tragic side of the event(s).  Hope you've now recovered your breath!

Breathtaking.  I was only 10 when I lived in Seattle in 1980.  I remember being so scared that day and wanted to go back home to Florida so bad (we did a year later)  Someday I will revisit to see her again.   thank you so much for this video.

Wow that's superb