Next on the "Things to Do this Summer" list was a trip to the Ape Cave. To Jason's disappointment this had nothing to do with apes. The ape cave is the longest lava tube in the continental US. It was formed 2,000 years ago when lava flowing from Mt. St. Helens cooled at the surface, but kept flowing underground creating tubes. It was discovered in the 1950's by a group of hikers called the "St. Helens Apes."
Yesterday was one of those occasions that I felt it was my parental duty to force everyone to get out and have some fun. I wondered why when the fighting and whining began, but I think everyone did have fun even if they wouldn't admit it.
Everyone was SUPER excited to be there! It was so dark and rocky in places, but we made it to the end about 1 1/4 miles in. Jason entertained with his ghost and monkey sounds which in turn made every kid in the cave make the same noises. Caleb kept saying, "We're all going to die!" and that made me think that that would be a bad place to be in the event of an earthquake. Hiram thought it would be a cool place to take his cousins and Ethan thought it was a waste of his Saturday.
Nearby the Ape Cave is The Trail of Two Forest which was pretty cool.
I wondered why there were shallow wells everywhere, then I bothered to read the sign.They were holes where trees once were and lava burned them away.
There was a place where the kids could crawl through the underground tunnels.
It was quite a day. I loved driving through the forest and past reservoirs with great views of Mt. St. Helens along the way. It's such beautiful country.
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