The weather forecast said
"Severe alert: excessive heat watch. Near record triple digit highs
expected." That was all the motivation we needed to leave two days early
for our family vacation last week. Time for another last minute camping trip! I
am endlessly grateful for our proximity to the mountains, where we can escape
any time we need a break from our sizzling valley. My parents recently
bequeathed us their two kayaks, so we tried something new and camped at a lake.
Monday, July 30, 2018: We arrived
at Cougar Campground around 4pm and immediately set up our tent, changed into
swimsuits, and went kayaking on Yale Lake. I loved this campsite! It was set
among tall peaceful pine trees, had flush toilets and running water, and our
campsite was right on the lake's shore. Sweet tranquil beauty.
After kayaking over half a mile
on very choppy breezy water, we all got in the lake for a swim--even me. I
rarely swim in lakes because they gross me out, but Yale Lake looked much
cleaner than the average recreational lake water. We wore our Keen sandals in the
water due to a very rough rocky bottom. Amber and Rose were in heaven! The
water was the perfect temperature, not too cold for Rose and I, but cool enough
to feel wonderful on the 89 degree day.
Dinner was hot dogs for everyone
else, chicken on salad for me (I don't do hot dogs), and marshmallows for
everyone. We forgot lighter fluid for our charcoal and Jeff zipped over to
Cougar, WA to get some in about 15 minutes flat. It was so nice to feel remote
but have access to a tiny town grocery store when the need arose.
After dinner the kids played in
the tent for a while, and then we went on a family walk around the campground,
stopping at the communal lake shore access area to admire the rocks and softly
lapping water. Then it was on to bathroom, teeth, and bed for the kids.
By 9:30pm the kids finally were
(mostly) quiet in the tent. While they were settling down, Jeff and I pulled
our camp chairs to the small bluff behind our tent, overlooking the lake to
read and take in the quietude. I love nature.
Captions, then pictures:
- Strapping down the kayaks.
- Ready for an adventure!
- For some reason, Amber was very possessive of her pillow on this trip.
- Carrying the kayaks down to the water. Rose didn't feel like cramming herself into a kayak (2 kayaks + 5 people = crowded), so she sat on shore and took pictures for us.
- The rocky lakeshore was quite tricky to walk on.
- Rose took a few pictures of us from the shore. She did a pretty good job, after I cropped them straight!
- The water does not look very rough, but it was so choppy--those white parts in the lake are waves. It was tough paddling! We paddled straight across the lake to the other side (Jeff's watch informed us that it was .4 of a mile straight across), then switched kids. Macho Jeff took the heavier Jay and I took Amber. It was much easier paddling Amby through the swells.
- Jeff and Jay on the return journey.
- Me paddling Amber. She liked dangling her feet out the back of the kayak and splashing in the water. Photo credit: Rose. I am not particularly vain, so I don't mind being behind the camera 99% of the time, but I do want to be able to see that I WAS THERE with my people. I love being in pictures with my family. For some reason, Jeff never takes pictures anymore. It's not like he refuses to take pictures, but he's usually too busy doing other fun/important stuff to help with the photography. So every now and then I pawned the camera off on a kid or set the camera timer and jumped into a few pictures. Maybe next time I'll pawn the camera off on Jeff too. Some families have live-in nannies, but what I'd rather have is a live-in photographer to take pictures of our everyday life with me in it too!
- Putting the kayaks away.
- Swimming time.
- Rose liked jumping off of the log.
- Life vest or life dress? Haha, when Jeff picked up the kayaks from my parents, he forgot to grab middle-sized life vests for Jay and Rose, so they had to make do with adult sizes.
- Amber loved climbing on the big rocks by our campsite.
- A brief lakeside smooch at twilight while the kids wrestled in the tent behind us.
Tuesday, July 31, 2018: The day
began with a 7am 5 mile run for me, out and back up a rough gravel hilly road.
After breakfast, I hurried to get dressed for our first activity of the
day--Ape Cave.
It was a lovely morning for a
run. I ran up Old Merrill Lake Road, with minimal trespassing. The no
trespassing sign specified motor vehicles, so I figured a lone runner would be
ok.
- The rising sun turned the grass orange.
- Mountain mist plus orange sunrise grass was a visually intriguing combo.
- I climbed high enough for a view of Yale Lake from afar.
- The entire way out was uphill, and I was dripping sweat and my glasses kept sliding down my nose, so it was a relief to turn around and run back down the road at last.
We drove to Ape Cave, 20 minutes
from our campground. WTA (Washington Trails Association) says:
"WTA Pro Tip: At 13,042 feet
long (about 2.4 miles), Ape Cave is the third longest lava tube in North
America. It is sometimes referred to as Ape Caves (plural) because the main
entrance is between its two ends, referred to as the Lower Cave and Upper Cave.
Ape Cave was formed nearly 2000
years ago from lava streaming down the southern flank of Mount St. Helens. As
the outer edges cooled into a hardened crust, the inner molten lava was able to
drain away before it hardened, leaving behind a tube. After discovering the
cave in approximately 1950, a logger told his spelunker friend. That friend
explored the cave with his sons and their friends, who called themselves the
Mount St. Helens Apes. Thus the name of the cave." [source: wta.org]
Ape Cave has two parts: the Upper
Cave and the Lower Cave. The Lower Cave is a short out-and-back with a dead
end, but the Upper Cave is a true 1.5 mile long tube which can be hiked
straight through to an exit on the other end. The Upper Cave is billed as
"rugged, requiring caution and agility." Bring it on.
We were the third car at the Ape
Cave parking lot when we arrived at 9am (when we finished our hike, the large
parking lot was FULL). We strapped on our headlamps, zipped up our jackets, and
descended into the belly of the 1.5 mile long lava tube of the Upper Cave. It
was pitch dark, 42 degrees, and drippy-damp in the cave. The term "lava
tube" was slightly misleading. To me, a tube is smooth. Maybe it was
smooth when the lava was hot and flowing, but cooled lava rock is even bumpier
and rougher than "regular rock" (whatever that is). The lava tube was
full of mounds of rocks that we had to traverse to get through the cave. Jeff
was in his element, helping Amber through, up, and over the rough rock piles.
It was a spelunking extravaganza! Back when I was pregnant with Amber, Jeff
took 3.5 year old Rose and 5 year old Jay through Ape Cave all by himself, so
only having one small child to guide was simple for him.
When we were deep in the cave,
Jeff gathered the kids together and said "Ok, we are going to try an
experiment. Everyone turn off your lights." We all clicked off our head
lamps and stood for a few seconds in the complete THICK darkness. Then we
turned our lights back on. We didn't elaborate on the symbolism of darkness,
the dichotomy between good and evil, or the impact of even the smallest light
in the dark, but the moment still felt eloquent.
About halfway through the cave we
met four LDS sister missionaries from Vancouver on an epic P-day adventure with
a family in their ward. Of all the people to meet in the middle of a cave! Jeff
helped them over the 8-foot high solid rock wall we had all just scaled. After
over an hour of scrambling over sharp volcanic rock in the cold cavernous
darkness with the kids, we emerged into the bright warm sunlight once more via
a ladder.
Another 1.5 miles of hiking above
ground over the top of the lava tube, through a lovely forest landed us back at
the parking lot. We threw together some PBJs to eat in the car and drove to the
Lahar Viewpoint to see majestic Mt. St. Helens up close. I love a good
soul-feeding mountain view! We recreated a picture we took 7 years ago on our
first visit to Mt. St. Helens, and I can't believe how tiny our babies were the
first time we saw Mt. St. Helens together!
Captions, then pictures:
- All ready to go! We bought two new head lamps for this excursion to supplement our fluctuating collection. We were pleasantly surprised with the performance of the Walmart store brand Ozark Trail head lamps. They were compact, comfy, and, most importantly, BRIGHT.
- Descending into the 42 degree cold wet gloom: SO MUCH BETTER than staying home in the 106 degree heat.
- Still descending
- I used Adobe Lightroom to significantly increase the exposure on this picture, to show the shape and texture of the lava tube.
- One more picture with maxed out exposure to show the rough rocks. The rest of these pictures are not adjusted.
- The first daylight in a mile! The cave has two small skylights.
- Rose and I liked the patterns and colors on the cave walls.
- Ducking and climbing, scrambling and scraping. I banged my head hard once on a low-hanging rock.
- We found the way out!
- The light at the end of the tunnel. With every step up this rickety old ladder, the temperature increased a few degrees.
- I climbed out first and then stood ready to assist children as needed, but after 90 minutes of scrambling over rocks in the dark, a mere ladder was no big deal for them.
- Moving our camera from 42 degrees to 82 degrees outside the cave caused the lens to fog up for a few minutes, while everyone was climbing out.
- After everyone was out, I went back down so Jeff could take a triumphal exit picture of me too, haha. The camera had adjusted to the surface temp by then and the lens was no longer fogged up.
- Just sitting on lava rock, eating trail mix and fruit snacks.
- The Hole/entrance back into the cave is in front of the kids.
- Hiking back to the parking lot: even though I should have known that they way back would be just as long a distance as the way out, the 1.5 mile hike back to the car felt much longer. Our legs were all trembly from climbing rocks for an hour and a half! Amby required a ride.
- This pretty tree seemed so swirly and sculpted. It made me feel artistic.
- Finished!
Flash back to our first-ever visit to Ape Cave, when Jay was 2 and Rose was 5 months old. We hiked the Lower Cave (much smaller and shorter). I carried baby Rose in a sling and we didn't go very far because I was nervous about tripping and falling on the dark uneven ground with a baby.
2-year-old Jay and his "special light" at Ape Cave.
July 2014, when I was at home ultra nauseous and pregnant with Amber. I still can't believe Jeff did the big Upper Cave hike alone with two small children.
My tiny little babies! 5 year old
Jay and 3.5 year old Rose.
2018: Jay, age 9, at the Lahar Viewpoint. I love this view of Mt. St. Helens.
2011: Jay, age 2 at the Lahar Viewpoint.
2018: Rose, age 7.5 with Mt. St. Helens.
2011: Baby Rose, 5 months old at the mountain. That was her first camping trip. HER WRIST ROLLS WERE SO JUICY!
2018: Amber, age 3.75, and her first visit to the Lahar Viewpoint.
July 2011: probably my favorite
family photo of all time. When we went back to this spot this year, that tree
to the left was so much bigger that we had to walk past it closer to the
mountain for an unobstructed view. How was the sky SO BLUE on this day?? WOW.
We recreated our hands-in-the-air
Mt. St. Helens picture seven years later.
[Tues, July 31st, continued] Back
at camp after replenishing the ice in our cooler at a gas station, we
swimsuited up and kayaked and swam in the rough lake. I even swam in the lake
water up to my neck! It was refreshing. We snacked, dried off, and changed
clothes, then went on a drive to rest and listen to Harry Potter book 3 on CD.
Amber would not stop running around, but she was so tired she was getting destructive.
Hence the drive. Bless whoever invented a five point harness car seat for large
toddlers.
Amber fell asleep in the car and
we gave her about a 20 minute power nap (the rest of us sat tiredly in the car
listening to Jim Dale read Harry Potter) before waking her up for a short walk
on the Trail of Two Forests, a lava infused second growth forest with a 1/3
mile boardwalk looping through it. It was pleasant, with fascinating plaques
explaining the different landmarks. The cooled lava looked just like any old
rock, and it was all covered in moss with trees somehow sprouting out of it,
but there were still marks in the lava rock. The long troughs in the rock were
made by fallen trees, which had burned and rotted away as the lava cooled,
leaving the shape of the tree in the rock. Same story with the deep circular
holes in the rock: living trees were burnt by the flowing lava, then the stumps
slowly rotted away, leaving a perfect circle of a hole in the cooled lava-rock.
Jay and Rose each crawled through the mini 30 foot long lava tube there twice.
After the Trail of Two Forests,
we drove back to the campsite to light the charcoals for an early hot dog
dinner. The kids had a field day with the marshmallows and S'mores. We brushed
teeth and zipped the exhausted kids into the tent to watch a movie Jeff had
saved on his phone. It was supposed to help them settle down before sleep, but
they were still restless and squabbling at 9pm. Jeff and I retired to sweet
serenity of the lakeside, but we were too tired to stay up till after the kids
fell asleep, so we risked a family dog pile and joined them in the tent.
Thankfully we all fell asleep almost immediately.
- Lugging the watercraft down the rocky slope to the water. That blue blue lake was divine!
- Overloading the kayaks.
- Riding low in the water. The choppy water plus the extra weight caused the kayaks to take on a significant amount of water during our afternoon paddle. We stopped and dumped the kayaks out as best we could. I got so tired battling the choppy water with a heavy kid-loaded kayak that I pulled over to shore to rest and told Rose to swim back to our campsite. I ended up towing her with the kayak.
- Classic kid tent picture. These three are such fun adventurers.
- Tired little ducky-Amby, lounging and snacking.
- Back massage chain with a snack at the end.
- Two hikes, a swim, and a kayak ride all in one day gave even the most vivacious of girls the long sleepy STARE.
- The Trail of Two Forests had lovely sunlit trees.
- Amber loved running and stomping on the boardwalk trail.
- The 1/3 mile gentle boardwalk of the Trail of Two Forests was about all we could handle after our strenuous Ape Cave hike that morning and afternoon kayaking/swimming. It was a perfect afternoon amble for tired legs--not even any tree roots to trip over on the boardwalk. (that circular hole is a tree stump print in the lava rock!)
- Without the informative plaques, I never would have known that the dirt and moss-covered area on the inside of the boardwalk loop was actually all hardened cooled lava.
- Jay, descending into the mini 30-foot lava tube underneath the Trail of Two Forests. It was the right size for a kid to crawl through. Jeff and I opted not to bang up our knees, so we waited at the mouth of the tunnel. Amber really wanted to go down the tube too, but she had a skirt on and we didn't want her to cut her soft little knees up on the sharp lava rock, so we kept her out (much to her dismay).
- Exiting the lava tube, 30 feet later!
- Jeff crouched at the end of the lava tube, providing reassurance to the kids inside. We did not bring our headlamps so it was pretty dark there in the middle!
- Rose made it through the lava tube! She and Jay both went back and did it again.
- That bumpy rocky ground used to be hot, burning, flowing LAVA. That trench in the middle (with a baby tree growing out of it) used to be filled with a fallen tree log.
- Home, sweet Cougar Campground and gorgeous Yale Lake.
- Marshmallow roasting: always a highlight of camping! HAH, these kids were so tired, but they were determined to have roasted marshmallows. I told them they could have two marshmallows for every five baby carrots they ate with their dinner. They each had four marshmallows.
- THIS picture says it all. I hope they recreate it in a decade or two.
- Same picture, B&W: I love how black and white brings out different features of the scene than a color photo.
- Amber was so tired, she kind of just licked her s'more until it was gone.
- That girl and her pink boots. She hiked Ape Cave in those boots. Without socks. Her ankles got rubbed raw on two spots. I didn't realize the sock omission until halfway through the cave.
- "Can I have s'more?"
- Charcoal may not be a cozy crackling blaze, but they get the job done in half the time of wood! We have turned our backs on wood fires in the Pacific Northwest. If you have to buy wood at the campground and worry about burn bans, it takes the fun out of fire-crafting. I was actually surprised that this campground allowed fires at all.
- Is there anything more soothing than sunshine through pines?
- Sitting in a camp chair by the lakeside with my husband, resting my feet on a jacket-covered log. The campground was pretty full, so it was not perfectly quiet, but the breeze was still whispering through the pines and the water was still lapping softly in the lake, and it was peaceful.
- Traditional family tent selfie!
- Sleeping angel, the last one to wake up on Wednesday morning. She was sleeping sideways, with her head on Jay's sleeping bag and her feet on my legs. Sleeping in a six man tent with two adults and three sprawling kids was not easy. The campsite was the most level ground I have ever camped on and we have very comfy Thermarest sleeping mats. We decided to bring two tents next time we camp, however, because the kids took up more than their fair share of space and kept flopping over onto me and waking me up all night. At least the girls' breathing isn't loud anymore since they both have had their tonsils removed!
Wednesday, August 1, 2018: We
went on one more kayak paddle on Yale Lake before packing up and heading out.
The water was so smooth and much easier to paddle on in the morning vs. in the
windy choppy afternoon. My shoulders and other various kayaking muscles are all
tuckered out. But I loved that campsite! Camping on a lake is amazing!
Wednesday morning: a final paddle
on the still calm morning water. Lakeside mornings were made for kayaking.
Photo credit: Jay.
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