We were looking forward to our trip to Mount St. Helens - seeing a volcano was one of the requests the kids made. We left around 9:15 and made it there by 10:45 - right in time for our 11 am reservation for the Ape Caves. It was a pretty ride to get there and half of it was on mountainous backroads with a river running beside us. The Ape Caves were our first destination and we didn’t know what to expect - there wasn’t much on the website about them ahead of time. The caves are a lava tube formed 1,900 years ago when molten lava flowed down the southern side of Mount St. Helens. Apparently, molten lava is unusual for volcanoes in the Cascade mountain range, and eruptions usually consist of gases (like the 1980 eruption). The Ape Caves are named for the scout troop that first explored them - the Mount St. Helens Apes. There were was an upper passage and a lower passage - we did the lower passage because it was easier to traverse for kids. The upper passage had rock formations that were close to two stories high that had to be climbed. Although the lower passage was easier to hike, its floor was still composed of uneven hardened lava and lots of rocks.
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| Entering the caves |
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| The caves were so huge (in most places!) |
I dressed the kids warmly because it was a cave, but it turns out the caves stay at 42 degrees so they were grateful for the long pants and jackets. Jeremy came prepared with lots of flashlights. Unlike Carlsbad Caverns, these caves were not lighted and our only source of light was from our flashlights. The kids LOVED this. We had our walkie talkies and they would run ahead and tell us what the “terrain” was like and warn us if rocks were ahead. The caves were really neat and there was a portion where a mini-lava tube had hardened in the main tube - it was incredible that we were walking on lava that had flowed so long ago.
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| A mini-lave tube that hardened in the main lave tube |
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| Hard to get clear pictures since it was so dark and the Griffin kids don't know how to pause |
The cave was damp and water dropped down on us through places. We even felt strong gusts of cold air (not quite sure on the physics of that) while in the tubes. The walls of the cave were slimy and we only found out afterward that we shouldn’t touch the cave walls because the slime is a fungus that helps the cave ecosystem and touching it kills the fungus - luckily we weren’t dragging our hands down the walls. We got to the end and the cave suddenly shrunk in size to the point we had to duck our heads. I made the sacrifice to stay behind with the backpack while Michael went with the kids to the end of tunnel. It turns out they had to army crawl to get to the very end - ugh..I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about having to crawl through the damp cave on my stomach with only my flashlight. I’m glad he was willing to go because the kids thought it was cool.
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| About to enter the last part of the cave that got very narrow |
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| Jayden crawling in the last section! |
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| The end of the cave! |
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| Returning to daylight (and 75 degree weather) |
After reaching the end we had to turn around and head back up - it was a gradual descent over .75 miles so we had an uphill climb to get back but it wasn’t a sharp ascent. The Ape Caves were definitely a hit by everyone - even the adults. Jeremy commented that he plans to come back and do the upper passage which does seem like a fun challenge.
After the ape caves, we were hoping to take a hike that would give us good views of Mount St. Helens. Our plan was to do the Lava Canyons hike but the parking lot was completely full so we did the Ape Caves trailhead. It offered a spectacular view of Mount St. Helens after only a half-mile hike.
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| Dani and Jayden waiting by the rock beds while Andrew and Carolyn and Matthew explore |
The trail was next to a huge bed of rocks that appeared to be a lava flow but I’m not sure about that. The kids and Michael chose to walk out in the rocks while I continued up the trail with Dani. The flies were out with a vengeance and whenever you stopped, they would attack you and swarm all around. I felt like a horse swishing its tail to keep the flies away. When we got to the step out, we were in awe of the view and took lots of pictures. Of course, because we were stopped, the flies attacked. Matthew was crying because there were so many flies circling his head and we even got an action shot of Michael swatting a fly on his head while we were taking a family picture. After getting our pictures, we headed back down the trail. Dani was a trooper today and did most of the hiking in both the lava tubes and the trail all by herself.
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| Michael swatting at a fly - haha! |
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| Her way of saying she was done with pictures |
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| On our way back down |
We left Mount St. Helens around 3 pm and headed back to Gresham. We had dinner at The Spaghetti Factory and that was the perfect restaurant for our pasta-loving family. We arrived slightly before 5 pm and we were told it would be a 1-1.5 hour wait for a party of 9. We decided that was too long so we called Olive Garden (because the kids really wanted pasta) and that was a 2-hr wait! Claim Jumpers (I was told it was similar to Cheesecake Factory in terms of its variety) only had a half-hour wait so we jumped in the car and quickly drove across the street to grab a table there. As soon as we put our name in at Claim Jumpers, we got the text that our table was ready at Spaghetti Factor - what?! That was the worst time estimate ever - it had only been 15 minutes. But, since the kids were super excited about the Spaghetti Factory, we got back in the car and headed back there.
It was a great dinner with good service, and the kids loved their food and ice cream that came with their meal. It was a nice way to end the day since we were all tired from the day’s adventures. We got home, the kids got baths, they watched a little TV, and then off to bed they went. We continued our nightly routine of talking and having a drink on the back porch. The evenings have been so nice - cool and refreshing - not a bit of humidity. A nice change from North Carolina evenings!
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