| May 2004: Exploring upper Ape
Cave |
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Ape cave is a great place to explore on a
rainy day... The upper section of the cave is a bit more rugged than the lower
section. The route is still walkable - no special equipment is required - but
there are a lot of uneven footings, and boulders to climb over. Here, a group
of boy scouts heads up the cave, their headlamps making streaks through the
darkness. |
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The upper cave is also more varied in the
amount of space available for ambulation. In some places, one needs to crouch
down or turn sideways and squeeze through narrow openings. |
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We brought along a lantern for this trip.
Generally, bringing a lantern is a really good idea (as lanterns throw off much
more light than any flashlight)... provided you have a couple back-up light
sources handy. During our trip, the screw holding the handle of the lantern
became loose, and the lantern crashed to the cave floor. The glass broke, and
the lantern was no longer usable. Luckily, we had other light sources
available, and were near the end of our trip. |
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Upper Ape Cave is a little over a mile long,
a hiking trail connects the openings at either end. This "sun roof" is near the
upper end of the cave. Although, on this day, it was more like a "rain
roof". |
| June 2003: A visit to June
Lake and Ape Cave |
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The area south of Mt. St. Helens was not
severly impacted from the 1980 eruption (the eruption was primarily directed to
the north). A number of trails criss-cross through the area. One of those goes
by June Lake, pictured here. A waterfall pours into the lake at its far
end. |
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This formation reminded me of southwest
desert slot canyons... except that it's in the northwest, in volcanic basalt.
Plus, these "slots" weren't very large compared to their southwestern
cousins. |
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Ape Cave is a lava tube cave south of Mt. St.
Helens. It's the longest continuous lava tube cave in North America - over 2
miles long! |
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When lava flows down a volcano, the outside
of the lava cools and hardens into rock while the lava underneath continues to
flow. If the liquid lava then drains away before hardening, a hollow tube is
formed. |
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Here, a piece of the cave wall has cracked
open. Ape cave was named after nearby Ape Canyon. That was named because of an
incident back in the 1920's when a couple of boys dressed up as Sasquatch and
threw rocks at some miners. The hoax wasn't revealed until the 1980's, when one
of the boys (then an old man) admitted he was one of the
culprits. |
