the ape caves

With the near 100 degree temperatures this weekend, Dan and I decided to put on our hiking shoes and cool off while exploring some caves. In the Mount St. Helen's National Monument, there's a lava tube called the Ape Caves that is a nice cool 45 degrees year round. So we put on our jackets and head lamps and headed into the cave.

We had two options, a nice half mile easy walk, or a 1.75 difficult "walk". Of course, we had to do the difficult trail. It was a nice easy start, then bam, we ran into a huge pile of rocks that we had to scramble over. COOL! Thru the course of the hike, we hit probably a dozen or so patches of rock that we had to scramble over and squeeze through. By the end, we were thoroughly winded, dirty, and super geeked about what we just did. There were even a few parts that you had to use a rope to get up and over some ledges, however, being as skilled rock climbers as we are, bypassed the rope.

We can't wait to go back!!!