It was a warm Sunday, and a cool cave just sounded like a great idea. The cave itself was dark and cold, so a flash light and warm clothing are a must. The lower cave was not much of a challenge, but it started to get very narrow, to the point where we had to crawl through, and we decided to turn around at that point. After that, we wanted to try the upper cave, and that was a bit more of a challenge. We had to climb over many rocks, and there were many puddles, so if you don't want your feet getting wet, you had to watch where you're stepping. The dark cave had some openings where some skylight came through, that was absolutely beautiful. After we got out of the cave, the hike back to the car was quite beautiful. It was warm and sunny and there was some snow. Although we encountered some mud puddles, we didn't really care much. Overall, there were many families there, but I wouldn't say it was overcrowded. All in all it was a great hiking/caving experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested.

There is a "river" on the return trail coming back from the upper entrance to the caves. We were warned, and had a 7 year old and an 11 year old with us, who were not well equipped or dressed for the day. They were in fact only told to dress for the rain, in which one interpreted this as wearing "ug" boots (Ha!) and the other converse shoes (HaHa!)

 When you're taking small children on activities like this, you have to decide what kind of trip you want to have. I opted for "life's little lessons" over a walk of natural wonder. Needless to say we all returned alive, soar, and soaked. The fanciest gear we had with us were a couple of headlamps for the adults, the kids each got a simple dollar store flashlight. Their range of emotions went all up and down from excited to miserable, from brave to scared and back again. It was the perfect outing.

The stairs at the lower entrance had some snow still, and a rope was in place to help people get down into the cave. There seemed like more drips this time than previous times I've done the caves, most likely due to the thaw. There were large ponds underground, but were easy to avoid. Many, many slow down points for children, as an adult would have to position themselves to help a child over some areas. And if you've ever done the caves you know what I mean when I refer to "the wall", which took both adults to get the kids across. The hike from the upper entrance was still covered with snow, a full leg deep in some areas, but if you stayed within the footprints of others you didn't go down into it too much. The "river" that has to be forded is pretty thin, maybe requiring less than a dozen steps to cross getting wet up to the knee if you find a shallow spot to cross. With having the kids I'd say 4-5 hours for the total trip away from the car.

 The parking lot was also closed due to snow I think, so we parked at a lower parking lot and hiked the one mile in towards the caves. There were a few other groups also hiking but not as many as I've seen in the past. The group with the 6 year old chickened out after the first rock pile and went back.

My wish list for things I didn't have for today's hike: towels in waterproof bags, water resistant clothing including hats for everyone, head lamps for everyone, snow shoes, and hiking sticks.

I think the lesson was learned today, and next time the girls will be better prepared for the random adventures their dad takes them on.

We picked a soggy,soggy day for our adventure. For a bit of extra adventure, we parked at the sno park and trekked overland with a GPS around a half mile to the lower entrance of the cave.
We paused is the information shelter for a quick snack and to stash our snowshoes in our packs.

The stairs leading into the cave are completely snow covered and quite slick. Once in the cave make sure you have all the light you need. The cave also had several large puddles, you might even call one a small pond, but they were all easy.
enough to avoid. The skylight was particularly pretty. With a ring of water dripping into the cave. We paused there abd turned of our lights to just enjoy the scene. All told we spent about 2 hours in the cave before reaching the ships ladder at the upper entrance.

Snowshoes went back on as soon as we left the cave. The show at the upper entrance is quite deep! The trail down is in pretty good shape, well marked and well traveled. Clearly some people gave made it with out show shoes, but there were not too many post holes.

Another pause at the shelter for some lunch. Then retracing our tracks back to the car. We pushed the limits of our gear's waterproofing. I was glad to have two par of gloves and extra socks!

All told a grand adventure for a Monday!

I figured the snows are coming so better do this now. It was an absolutely beautiful day. Getting to Ape Cave was actually easier than I thought. There are signs on the road. The only sign that I missed was the one from 90 to 83 because it is very small and covered with tree leaves. It is 1 mile after the dam which is a big object of water. If you look at your GPS and see a large body of water on the right, then that's it.

Paid the $5 fee to park. The entrance to lower and upper cave is less than 1/4 mile from the parking lot and well identified. This is the entrance to both the upper and lower cave (see pic below). You will be greeted with a sign at the base of the staircase that will explain your options.

I only went about 100 yards into the lower cave before I realized it was not the hike for me. Too easy. A group of High School kids (3 school bus worths!) had just done the Lower Caves. I figured if there was anything special to see in the Lower Caves it would have been obliterated or taken by those kids anyways.

The journey into the Upper Cave greets you with a rock pile almost immediately. It is the largest rock pile you will encounter. There are maybe 3 or 4 subsequent medium sized rock piles and countless smaller ones.

The best way to describe the rock piles would be to compare them to the rock barriers they put up near the ocean. If you have ever been to the ocean or a bay where they put up a rock wall, or a sea wall, then you know they use large irregular sized rocks that require you to slow down, find a place to step, and maneuver your feet onto it.

I took solace in the fact that the volcanic rock I was hiking on was very strong and had many surface irregularities which made for great traction! It was rare that I look my footing because of slippage. It is indeed moist and damp and cold inside. I wore but a thin wool sweater, gloves, boots, and thick hoodie and was quite comfortable. You will be sweating at the end of the hike so don't overdo the layers.

Very few people on this day. I only met 2 other parties on the way down to the end of the Upper Cave. I trekked with one person the first 100 yards down the lower cave before I turned around. The cave isn't for everyone. The wife of the man I trekked with down the lower cave turned back. She said she felt like crying and had a fear of heights (there aren't that many heights).

I do not recommend hiking poles for the Upper Cave. It will get in the way and slow you down. You can do it for the Lower Cave, but knowing what I do now, I would leave my hiking poles at home regardless of whether or not I was doing the Upper or Lower cave.

2 tough areas for me. The Rockfall or Waterfall (not sure what they call it). It's the 8 foot wall they talk about. The rock wall is very smooth and polished which makes it tougher than the other areas. There is a good foothold on the left side as well as great handholds near the top right that made it possible for me to get up by myself. I wound up giving a hand to the group that came after me and some of them really appreciated it, especially the 11 year old.

The second tough area is called the meatball. It is a large rock that looks like a meatball. It is very large and smooth. I was given a hand (by the same group with the 11 yr old) here so I cannot describe how to navigate it by yourself, but I can say the right side of the meatball is the direction most people went.

Once you reach the skylight, you are very close to the end, maybe 10 minutes. You know you have reached the end when you reach a staircase that is bent in two sections (it's the only one at the end). Once you make it outside, the trail back to the parking lot is on the left, demarcated by a blue sign. The hike back to the parking lot is very pretty indeed, loved every minute of it.

I suggest to do the Lava Canyon which is 10 miles down from the junction where 8303 and 83 meet. It is totally worth the views and information of Mt St Helens. Very beautiful indeed.