Ape Cave

Yesterday, Jeff took Jay and Rose on an adventure to Ape Cave, which is a lava tube cave near Mt. St. Helens. They left at 7am and didn’t get home till 9:30pm (it’s a 3.5 hour drive to Mt. St. Helens). Jeff says that the trip was epic enough to rival last year’s infamously muddy Shi Shi Beach hike. [I just looked up that blog post and relived the gory glory of that trip. Last summer was ahh-mazing.] I still can’t believe I wasn’t THERE for this family adventure. Pang! Twinge! Just you wait till next summer.

Quick background info on Ape Cave: it consists of two lava tubes (aka thick tunnels in the lava bed), called the upper and lower tubes. The lower tube is shorter and kind of tapers off so you can only walk so far into the cave before it ends and you have to turn back. That’s the one we did a few years ago. Jeff had explored the upper tube two other times, so he knew what to expect, more or less. The upper tube is just over a mile long—1.3 miles to be exact, and it has openings on both ends so hikers walk through the cave. There is a trail (1.3 miles long) on the outside of the tube that takes you back to the start. So round trip for the upper tube = 2.6 miles.

Flashback—here’s what the kids looked like last time we were at Ape Cave:

  
Rose, 3 years ago.

Little 2 year old Jay with his “special light.”

Jay was so little! Three years ago, I carried baby Rose and Jeff carried Jay through the upper tube cave. It was short and dark and rocky, but doable with small kids. I thought the lower tube would be similar, but Jeff set the record straight after their 5 hour trek underground through the cave.

I have very few witty insights or clever turns of phrases for this year’s story of Ape Cave since I was not there for the journey, but from what I can see, it was hard going. The Washington Trails Association describes it this way: “the tube beds are rough and uneven.” That’s all they give you. What is with trail info and understatements??

Here’s what I can tell you about it all, secondhand: Jeff came back exhausted and sore from wriggling, scooting, and climbing over rocks while lifting and carrying kids, all in the pitch black with only headlamps for light. Jeff’s light burned out during the trip, along with his spare, so all he had was a small handheld flashlight for the rest of the way. Near the start, they took a wrong side path that had them crawling on their stomachs for 20 minutes before Jeff decided it was the wrong way. Rose did not like that part. Jeff says he laid on his back, put Rose on his stomach, and scoot-wiggled along with her when she was upset at the crawling and head-bonking. Talk about dedication! It took them 5 hours to get through the 1.3 mile lava tube cave.

 

They met 3 nice people on the way and they decided to help each other out through the cave. So Jeff lifted some strangers up 'n over the big rocks too! He said at one part there was an 8 foot high rock to scale, with a maybe 2-foot high stepping stone in front of it. I asked how he would have managed that obstacle without those nice people, and he admitted he didn’t know and threw out the idea that maybe he’d have had each kid take turns clinging to his back while he climbed. Insert mother bear-Shaina growl of disapproval. Jeff helped these people, and they helped him with the kids. Little Miss Rose perked up for the last quarter of the cave and Jeff said she kept getting ahead of them like a little mountain goat, climbing rocks all nimble and quick.

My hard core family. They had McDonald’s Happy Meals for dinner, which for the kids was an exciting way to end their big adventure. Rose calls her McDonald’s toy her “happy toy.”

Verdicts:
Jeff—“It was awesome! Epic! Exhausting! I’m so sore everywhere!” 
Rose—“I…I…I don’t know…” (mixed feelings)
Jay—“Can we do it again next year?”