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Your comment about South of the caldera is inaccurate. The blast went to the NE. Most areas from a quadrant due East through West South of the caldera were basically untouched other than ashfall and the pyroclastic flow on the East flank that formed the large lahar. Even at that there are segments in the area of Ape Canyon, to the East, where a ridge protected an area from the blast and pyroclastic flow so there is an island of original trees in the lahar area. Pockets of BF could have survived if they were in those trees. However the ashfall would have been deadly as far as breathing for periods of time. I think many BF were probably buried in the pyroclastic flows which prompts my visits to the lahar looking for bones washing out of the banks. A creek runs through the lahar and erodes the banks strongly with spring runoff. As far as BF activity on the flanks of the mountain, I found footprints way out in the lahar just two years ago near some rock stacks. The Ape Canyon area seems active as people who are the last to leave the visitor parking lot have reported vocalizations in the area. I think BF move from the forested patch near Ape Canyon to the continuous cover that can be found further South on the southern flanks of the mountain or they could move East into the areas where BTW is doing his bone research and there are large elk herds. After the creek off the East flank dries up there is still water in the watersheds to the East. For all I know the place as some special meaning to them because of how many of them were killed in the area. In other threads I have mentioned finding a possible rock cairn in the lahar that seemed to have been formed by stacking rocks. I have suspected that was a BF grave because of the rock placement and the fact that the feature was rectangular in shape (4X10 feet). I had the feeling I was being watched when I was examining the suspected grave and other times when hiking the Ape canyon trail. I also found a cave in the embankment below the Ape Canyon trail that was large enough for a human to climb inside. There was evidence that something had been using it because of scrapes on the embankment below the cave opening which was about 6 feet up in the embankment. I have no idea how that cave could have formed other than perhaps it was formed around a big chunk of ice or snow that was covered by a lahar flow and then the ice or snow melted out leaving the cavity. The trail in that area traverses the island of trees I mentioned that was spared the blast and pyroclastic flow of the 1980 eruption. However the soil the trees are growing on is ashfall and likely pyroclastic debris from some ancient eruption. It was a few hundred yards from the suspected BF grave.