Friday, the Ape Cave and Lava Canyon

We drove to the other side of Mt. Saint Helens to see the Ape Cave.  Why the name you say?  We did too.  The story is the cave was discovered by a logger name Lawrence Johnson.  In 1951 a youth group explored the cave for the first time. The boys called themselves the Mt. Saint Helens Apes   because of a prank pulled by two Boy Scouts in 1924.  The boys in 1924 were throwing pumice rocks into a canyon.  They didn't know there was a cabin below with miners in it.  The miners saw what they thought were small apes attacking them and they reported the attack to the authorities.  So there you have it. The Ape Cave.

Next lesson, how was the cave formed.  The cave is a giant and I mean giant lava tube.  Formed from a lava flow.  As the lava flowed the outside of the flow hardened forming a tube.  It is amazing.  

Have you ever tried to take pictures in a pitch black cave? It isn't easy!  We walked the lower, easier part of the cave.  It is about 3/4 of a mile of tripping over rocks and stepping in water.  It was great.  At the entrance the worker told us about the meatball rock.  My mission, finding it!!!

 Lights in the distance.

 You can see from this picture (I think) how huge the lava tubes are! Mike looks small.

We made new friends.  This man loved the cave and his wife was so so.  I loved the cave and Mike was so so!

 These boys are not doing what they are supposed to do in a cave.

 Spray painting on the walls. We reported them.

This is the end of the lower section.  You can still continue but you have to crawl on your belly and there is no exit.  You have to come back on your belly.  I opted out of this!

Yeah!!! The meatball rock.  There was some talk that if it was a real meatball with some spaghetti it would be more exciting.  We missed it on our way down but found it on the way back.

 The light at the end of the tunnel.  We made it!

The real light at the end of the tunnel!

The route to the next stop showed us the other side of Mt. Saint Helens.  Still covered with clouds.

There were mud flows on this side of the mountain from melting glaciers.

Mike decided that the Ape Cave was all the geology he could handle for the day.  Neither one of us knew exactly what the Lava Canyon was.  Maybe a canyon formed from lava?  Not that exciting for Mike.  He asked how long the hike was and I said it was 1/2 mile.  Turns out it was 1/2 mile to the trail which I am guessing was about a mile.  He stayed in the car and waited for me.

This was no canyon filled with lava.  It was beautiful.  The trail was wet, skinny, and uneven.  I didn't wear any rain gear because it wasn't raining when I left.  Mistake!

This is some info about the canyon.  Now the rain starts!

This is what I thought I would be walking on the whole time.  Boy was I wrong!

Off the happy trail now and on to the scary trail (at least at times).

Nope the trail didn't stay like this at all.

I stopped taking pictures because I wanted to concentrate on getting out alive.  Just a joke, it wasn't that bad.

Fun, fun suspension bridge.

I took these pictures from the bridge which was half way through the trail.

Other side of the bridge.  The suspension bridge is in my past.

I probably got a little too close to the edge of the canyon and wandered off the trail a bit.  That was a mistake.  Not the picture but not knowing exactly where the trail was.  Sometimes it was hard to tell.  Really.  I had to crawl back to the trail.  It was slippery.  Don't tell Mike!

But I got a great view of the waterfall even if I was close to the edge of the canyon.

I made it through.  Mike was getting worried about me because I took longer than expected.  He asked a few people if they had seen me.  Nope.  They told him it was a loop so I could be anywhere.  Just about the time he was heading out to find me I showed up.  Tired, it was hard, wet, and happy.  Beautiful.

We headed back to camp and Mike spotted this truck with trees growing through it.  Even the big one on the right.  That had to be a plan.

This night the wood stove got stoked up so my clothes could dry.  That stove was almost too hot at first but Mike did something to reduce the fire.  Less air.  I was thankful for the warmth and things getting dry! Another great day!