On May 17, 1980, Gary Rosenquist and friends Joel and Linda Harvey, their 10-year-old son Jo-Jo, and William Dilley drove from Tacoma and camped at Bear Meadow, 11 miles northeast of Mount St. Helens. The next morning they witnessed the colossal landslide and unprecedented lateral blast and nearly lost their lives. Shortly before 8:40 a.m., Dilley noticed that the mountain looked "fuzzy," and Rosenquist took a picture. Minutes later, as the mountain gave way, Rosenquist rushed to his camera, accidentally bumped it, and captured the eruption as it unfolded. Focused on the scene through his lens, he took 22 photographs in about 30 seconds, never hearing the blast. He then ran for the car as the turbulent cloud loomed behind them, and the group sped down Road 99 toward Randle while marble-sized mudballs struck the windshield. Within minutes it was completely dark, and they groped through the choking ash cloud to safety. Rosenquist had wanted eruption pictures, and his photographs went on to help people understand the dynamics of the event.