Wednesday July 6, 2011: Me Tarzan, you...?!
After a beautiful night sleeping outside, I did my powerwalk on a path along the lake. There is a whole lot of driftwood along the shores. I would love to take it home but Spouse would have a cow! How nice some of my orchids would look mounted to that beautiful wood...
We are now at the base of St. Helens. You know, that volcano that blew its top in 1980 and decimated the region. That same volcano that is still active... So why not check it out!
We first headed to Lava Canyon. There are stunning views of Mt. St. Helens and the lava fall. A hiking trail takes you through the trees to a canyon with rushing water. Beautiful purple penstamen, lupine and the white puff ball of bear grass adorn the trails as well as other flowers of which I do not know the names. There are signs warning about the rushing water and I put all jokes aside to Dallas and Crew about this one. Having lost a dear friend in similar circumstances, I wanted them to understand the gravity of the situation. We crossed a bridge and headed down the rocky trail, and there was a suspension bridge to bring us back. It was a narrow bridge...
Let me give you a term that you may not have heard: ob-nox'-i-um: n. a substance secreted from the little known obnoxia gland in males... When you come to a narrow suspension bridge, that straddles a hundred feet over a canyon with rushing water, what would you expect 3 males to do? Of course! Turn it into an Indiana Jones adventure. What a kick tho! Crew wanted to pee off the bridge, so Spouse made it as difficult as possible for him!
We finished that hike then headed over to Ape Cave. Ape Cave is a lava tube approximately 2 miles long. At the point of entry, you can either take the lower cave route which is an uneventful 3/4 mile tour, or you could take the 1 and 1/2 mile route. As we waited for the tour, we asked Spouse, who had the backpack, for one of our apples. He said they were in an ice chest in the car. We all looked at him like he was from another planet. He had the backpack, supposedly with the goods, but once again... we would go hungry!
Oh well... We started on a tour but when the tour wanted to do the shorter route, I convinced my guys to go the longer trail. Thus we left the tour group. So, it is about 42 degrees and it is dark. Did I mention it is dark? We each had a flashlight. Spouse and Dallas had ones on their heads. Crew and I had to hold ours in our hands. Did I mention it was dark?
I almost can't believe that they let the public roam freely in this tube. We started the trek... our first obstacles were boulders the size of volkswagen bugs. And there were boulders the size of footballs. And there were boulders the size of truck tires. Now, it is difficult enough to make these climbs in broad daylight, but in the dark with flashlights was a true challenge. For me, losing my balance meant flailing my arms, which means my flashlight is not on the trail and I have no idea where to go! And when you do fall, you are falling on lava... nice sharp, unforgiving lava! So you learn real quick to go slow! Note to self: wear gloves when spelunking in Ape Cave.
Dallas likes to lead, so he became the scout. We now call him Sacajawea! We climb. Spouse starts complaining about how stupid this was. We urge him on. We continue. Over this huge rock, down thru this one. Watch your step, there is a water puddle over here. Then the path levels out for a while. We can actually walk without using our hands to brace us up. Then another climb. Go to the left, now go to the right. Try going this way. Crew, are you there? Then it flattens out again. At this point, I feel like I am in a giant esophagus! Or maybe a colon! We wind our way ever so carefully hoping our batteries do not die. We do turn them off to see just how dark it is... cannot see our hands in front of our faces. It is dark. Watch your head.
We press on. I hear voices and we catch up to a mom and pop and 6 year old Travis. This is an incredible trek, it is hard to believe a 6 year old is doing it! We all start to help one another. Sacajawea is leading the way. We climb, then it is flat. We come upon an 8 foot wall. It has a spot about 3 feet up for a foot, but then you have to put your other foot against another wall and start to shimmy up. Don't fall... lava hurts... fortunately for me, Sacajawea was already up there and he was able to give me enough of a pull to hoist myself up. He helped everybody on this one. We trudged on, lava falls, watch your head. Climb up these. It is flat now, there are boulders there. Travis falls and starts to cry. He is getting scared and cranky. We forge ahead. We finally see one of the sky openings. We know we are close. We come upon a huge climb... ever so slowly we climb. Spouse falls on his knee. He skins his arms and bloodies his finger. He is ok, and we trudge on. Finally, we see the light at the end of the tunnel. There is a ladder, and we climb ourselves out of the 42 degree cave into the 90 degree sunlight! Here we can look at our wounds and shed our clothes. When we started out, we questioned this adventure, but now that we all made it out without major injury, we can smile and pat ourselves on our backs... excepts it hurts too much to move our hands to our backs!
I did not bring sunglasses because I knew I would be in a cave, but now we had a mile hike back! Travis and his parents caught up to us. Travis is no longer cranky! Imagine that! This is one heck of an adventure, and I cannot believe a 6 year old would even attempt it!
We get back to Hannah and clean ourselves up. Dallas and Crew napped... They came alive come s'more time though! We had originally planned to move on, but decided to spend another night here, even though we now have neighbors...
After a beautiful night sleeping outside, I did my powerwalk on a path along the lake. There is a whole lot of driftwood along the shores. I would love to take it home but Spouse would have a cow! How nice some of my orchids would look mounted to that beautiful wood...
We are now at the base of St. Helens. You know, that volcano that blew its top in 1980 and decimated the region. That same volcano that is still active... So why not check it out!
We first headed to Lava Canyon. There are stunning views of Mt. St. Helens and the lava fall. A hiking trail takes you through the trees to a canyon with rushing water. Beautiful purple penstamen, lupine and the white puff ball of bear grass adorn the trails as well as other flowers of which I do not know the names. There are signs warning about the rushing water and I put all jokes aside to Dallas and Crew about this one. Having lost a dear friend in similar circumstances, I wanted them to understand the gravity of the situation. We crossed a bridge and headed down the rocky trail, and there was a suspension bridge to bring us back. It was a narrow bridge...
Let me give you a term that you may not have heard: ob-nox'-i-um: n. a substance secreted from the little known obnoxia gland in males... When you come to a narrow suspension bridge, that straddles a hundred feet over a canyon with rushing water, what would you expect 3 males to do? Of course! Turn it into an Indiana Jones adventure. What a kick tho! Crew wanted to pee off the bridge, so Spouse made it as difficult as possible for him!
We finished that hike then headed over to Ape Cave. Ape Cave is a lava tube approximately 2 miles long. At the point of entry, you can either take the lower cave route which is an uneventful 3/4 mile tour, or you could take the 1 and 1/2 mile route. As we waited for the tour, we asked Spouse, who had the backpack, for one of our apples. He said they were in an ice chest in the car. We all looked at him like he was from another planet. He had the backpack, supposedly with the goods, but once again... we would go hungry!
Oh well... We started on a tour but when the tour wanted to do the shorter route, I convinced my guys to go the longer trail. Thus we left the tour group. So, it is about 42 degrees and it is dark. Did I mention it is dark? We each had a flashlight. Spouse and Dallas had ones on their heads. Crew and I had to hold ours in our hands. Did I mention it was dark?
I almost can't believe that they let the public roam freely in this tube. We started the trek... our first obstacles were boulders the size of volkswagen bugs. And there were boulders the size of footballs. And there were boulders the size of truck tires. Now, it is difficult enough to make these climbs in broad daylight, but in the dark with flashlights was a true challenge. For me, losing my balance meant flailing my arms, which means my flashlight is not on the trail and I have no idea where to go! And when you do fall, you are falling on lava... nice sharp, unforgiving lava! So you learn real quick to go slow! Note to self: wear gloves when spelunking in Ape Cave.
Dallas likes to lead, so he became the scout. We now call him Sacajawea! We climb. Spouse starts complaining about how stupid this was. We urge him on. We continue. Over this huge rock, down thru this one. Watch your step, there is a water puddle over here. Then the path levels out for a while. We can actually walk without using our hands to brace us up. Then another climb. Go to the left, now go to the right. Try going this way. Crew, are you there? Then it flattens out again. At this point, I feel like I am in a giant esophagus! Or maybe a colon! We wind our way ever so carefully hoping our batteries do not die. We do turn them off to see just how dark it is... cannot see our hands in front of our faces. It is dark. Watch your head.
We press on. I hear voices and we catch up to a mom and pop and 6 year old Travis. This is an incredible trek, it is hard to believe a 6 year old is doing it! We all start to help one another. Sacajawea is leading the way. We climb, then it is flat. We come upon an 8 foot wall. It has a spot about 3 feet up for a foot, but then you have to put your other foot against another wall and start to shimmy up. Don't fall... lava hurts... fortunately for me, Sacajawea was already up there and he was able to give me enough of a pull to hoist myself up. He helped everybody on this one. We trudged on, lava falls, watch your head. Climb up these. It is flat now, there are boulders there. Travis falls and starts to cry. He is getting scared and cranky. We forge ahead. We finally see one of the sky openings. We know we are close. We come upon a huge climb... ever so slowly we climb. Spouse falls on his knee. He skins his arms and bloodies his finger. He is ok, and we trudge on. Finally, we see the light at the end of the tunnel. There is a ladder, and we climb ourselves out of the 42 degree cave into the 90 degree sunlight! Here we can look at our wounds and shed our clothes. When we started out, we questioned this adventure, but now that we all made it out without major injury, we can smile and pat ourselves on our backs... excepts it hurts too much to move our hands to our backs!
I did not bring sunglasses because I knew I would be in a cave, but now we had a mile hike back! Travis and his parents caught up to us. Travis is no longer cranky! Imagine that! This is one heck of an adventure, and I cannot believe a 6 year old would even attempt it!
We get back to Hannah and clean ourselves up. Dallas and Crew napped... They came alive come s'more time though! We had originally planned to move on, but decided to spend another night here, even though we now have neighbors...
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