Finally got to take the kids for some last minute outing in St Helens area.
First stop: Ape Caves. Ranger checked the reservation at the booth and we got there in time for our 11 AM reservation.
The parking area was busy as expected. We only did the lower cave as I thought the upper cave would be too challenging for my 4 year old. Crowd was pretty spread out for the lower cave and the terrain was just perfect for small kids. Brought our own headlamps and a mini lantern that we'd use for camping.
Second stop: Trail of two forests. This one was also not busy. There were picnic benches that were perfect for lunch after doing all these mini caving stuff. The trail was a short 0.5 mi loop walk on a boardwalk and there's a mini lava tube experience that we all did. Kids loved it. I had my backpack so I had to crawl and drag my hiking pack inside of the tube :)
Third stop: Decided to backtrack for a bit to have lunch at Lone Fir Restaurant. Previous trip reporter mentioned about getting a huckleberry ice cream. I got a thick yummy huckleberry milkshake instead 🙂.
Last stop: Upper Lewis River Falls. We we were not so lucky with the Lower Lewis River Fall reservation. The Platinum Creek Parking by the horse camp seemed to have a last minute availability so we took that option instead. The mileage from the parking area to the first viewing area of the Upper Falls was around 2.7 mi RT. Add additional 0.5 mi RT to the second (main) viewing area. We didn't get to the second viewing area as kids were tired and were ready to head home.
Overall, a great full day outing even though the weather was mixed. Next time I would make an advance reservation for camping in the area so we could take our time.
Comments