Spelunking at Ape Cave

 

Ahh…spelunking. My favorite new pastime.

I recently took a small endeavor up to Ape Cave in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The longest continuous lava tube in the continental states, Ape Cave is quite a unique way to combine hiking, climbing, and fears of the dark. Absolute dark…though it is a pleasant 42 degrees year round.

The roughly 13,000 ft tube, the result of an unique basaltic eruption about 2000 years ago, has two sections that visitors are able to hike through. We took the upper/more difficult (read: more fun) route. Bouldering, climbing with no ropes or gear, was a new term to me at the time, but now I am more than familiar with it. And you will do a lot of it. 27 piles worth, to be exact.

The climbing/scurrying around is extremely fun. And since there is no “designated” path, you can be as creative as want in the way you tackle each breakdown. Also, there is one part with an 8-foot wall to conquer, which may seem intimidating to some, but fear not. Show that rock face what’s up. The constant temperature also helps, though it may seem cold at first, you quickly get into some heavy physical exertion so it’s nice to remain cool while doing so much work.

We “rocked” our way through (see what I did there) the upper tunnel in about 2 hours. One thing I would recommend is turning your recommended 3 sources of light off in one of the wider, flatter sections of the tube. It is an interesting experience to be in absolute dark surrounded by sounds that come from nowhere. It can get a little unnerving after a few minutes though (also a great opportunity to scare your friends). About 3/4 of the way through there is a tremendous sky-light in the ceiling. It is a beautiful site to to suddenly come across bright green moss and trees in the middle of so much darkness. It is also the only place that your pictures will have a decent chance of turning out to be viewable.

While you are able to hike the tube either up or down, I would recommend going up through the tunnel, which allows you to wind your way down a scenic woodland trail with beautiful views of Mount. St. Helens after you come out of the tube. It’s a nice way to finish off the excursion, though I’ve never done it the opposite way…I’m sure it’s nice going down the tube as well. I’m just not sure if I could handle the somewhat “blind” 8-foot drop the wall would provide if you hike down through the tube.

And if nothing else, you may be able to identify a little more with Batman and his thing for caves.

You can learn more about Ape Cave by going to the internet. There’s probably a link floating around somewhere for it, one would imagine.