Ape Caves, Lava Canyon — Sunday, Jun. 30, 2013

South Cascades > Mount St. Helens

I went up to the Ape Caves with a friend of mine. It was going to be a really hot day, so we were looking forward to the cool 42 degrees of the cave. We chose to hike through the upper cave and then back on the trail above the caves. The caves were fantastic! We took a bit of a detour that I don't recommend because the ceiling gets shorter and shorter until it ends. The wall was fun to climb. If you're nervous about it, then I suggest climbing up it, rather than starting at the other end and having to climb down it. Going up is a lot easier. There are lots of ledges throughout the upper caves as well, and you can get up onto some of them. My friend and I got up on one and sat with the lights off for a few, just taking in the "cave experience." :) And there were no bats! Though I still don't recommend licking the walls... After that, we drove about 8 miles up to Lava Canyon and did a short 1 mile circuit over the bouncy bridge of awesome. Be sure to hold on tight to your camera on that bridge. You can hike further on that trail, but we didn't since we had to get home. The rest looked like it would have been a blast though! If I could have done one thing differently, it would have been to hike Lava Canyon first, then the Ape Caves to cool down. It was about 90 degrees up there and absolutely beautiful! Lots of flowers and blooming plants, as well as gorgeous views of the Mount St. Helens. Also - headlamps are the best! If you can get one, do it, because having to carry a flashlight while climbing those walls is harder than it looks :)