project date: 2012 | by peter reedijk

The highway cracks in two, campers buried alive, half a mountain slides into a river valley forming a lake and cutting off all communication and roads into the area. These are just some of the stories told along the Earthquake Lake Geologic Area interpretive tour. Evidence of the cataclysmic events that took place on August 17, 1959 is still visible today.

Each stop is a geology lesson juxtaposed with the stories of the fragility of life. The earthquake (7.6 on the Richter scale) that triggered the devastation was completely unexpected and took the lives of twenty-seven people.

Sea Reach, working the US Forest Service, planned and designed thirty exhibits to commemorate the lives lost and the knowledge gained. The design is angular and dark to reflect the jagged scars on the landscape.