Ape Cave, Washington

November 20th Cody and I visited the Ape Cave which is located north of Cougar, WA in Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The ape cave is not named after primates but after a 1950's outdoor club that called themselves the Mount St. Helen's Apes. The Ape Cave is a lava tube formed from one of Mount St. Helen's more unusual eruptions. The tube was formed about 2000 years ago by fluid basaltic lava similar to that of the Hawaiian lava flows.

Cody and I arrived in the Ape Cave parking lot to find about 9 inches of snow on the ground. We were around 1900 ft in elevation. We hiked the lower cave first which is considered an easier route. However, in total darkness with only a head lamp and a flash light we found it was still easy to lose your footing. The lower part of the cave is about 1 1/2 miles round trip. The cave was very damp and is a solid 42 degrees year round. We found Gor-tex boots and warm clothing were very nice to have. The cave took on many shapes and sizes throughout the hike. We found ourselves looking up most of the hike. Next we hiked the more difficult 1 1/2 mile upper cave. This part required climbing over rock piles and paying close attention to our footing at all times. This portion of the cave had a sky light that let some light down into the cave. However, the light did not travel far before the cave was returned to pitch black conditions. This hike absolutely can not be done without a light source. If bringing a flash light, I strongly suggest keeping some extra batteries in your pocket just in case. The upper cave has an exit that lets you out onto a trail that takes you back to the main entrance of the cave as well as the parking lot. Cody and I finished up with a snowball fight on the way back to the car. Snow tires or chains would have been nice as we received help from some other fellow hikers pushing our car out of the parking lot.

Cougar Bar and Grill was a welcomed stop on the way home for a beer and an "Ape Cave" Sandwich. 

Portland Stairs

All through Northwest Portland there are stairs everywhere! It is my mission when go on runs up in the west hills to find at least one flight of new stairs and figure out where it goes. Today I found one hidden behind a guardrail and a Photinia. This dropped me onto a road that looped back around to the top of the staircase and a sidewalk that went down a very steep slope for about three blocks and ended on the corner of Thurman St and 29th Ave. On the other side of Thurman St there was another set of stairs that drops you down under a bridge and is an entrance to part of the Forest Park trail system. Following all these stairs took me from a city neighborhood out into the woods. I guess that is one advantage to never planning a walk or run.