Journey into the Ape Caves

I am entering the final weeks of my second course in the

Environmental Science and Policy M.S. Program at JHU.

(Thus the reason behind the recent lack of posts)

The course has a fancy name, but it is essentially just geology,

so, for our final project, we were assigned

to research the geology of our region.

Instead of picking a topic like the history of

the Columbia River Gorge,

I decided to use the project as an opportunity to explore

a part of the northwest that I haven't been to yet: Mt Saint Helens.

So last Monday we hopped in the car and made

the two hour drive to the base of the mountain.

Our first stop was the Trail of Two Forests

where we walked over 2,000 year old lava flows

and crawled through tunnels formed when huge tree trunks

disintegrated from the heat of the surrounding lava.

After we had enough tree crawling we jumped back in the car

and drove to the mouth of the Ape Caves.

The Ape Caves were formed 1,900 years ago

when a large eruption caused a river of lava

to pour down the mountain. Upon exposure to air,

the outside layer of the lava flow formed a crust.

Within the crust, however, the lava remained liquid.

When the lava eventually drained from inside the crust,

long tunnels were left behind,

tunnels that, if you are brave enough, you can walk through.

We descended into the caves and within seconds it was pitch

black, wet, and freezing cold.

I couldn't see more than 2 feet in front of me with the tiny

flashlight that I was carrying,

so I resorted to just pointing my camera into the darkness

and hoping for the best.

Here is a shot of the walls of the cave up close:

and Casey plunging further into the darkness.

Orin, who had been a little crabby at the Trail of Two Forests

seemed to actually enjoy the cave...

either that or he was terrified of being heard

by the fabled Cave Monsters.

After exploring the caves, we made the ascent back to

sunshine, warmth, and Purple, who had been roasting

patiently in the car waiting for our return.

Next weekend we are considering making one more trip,

this time to the north side of the mountain

where the majority of the destruction occurred

during the 1980 volcano.