- Ape Cave + Mount Saint Helen's Vista FULLGreenlake Park n Ride, seattle, WA
You need to give a carpool location to be placed in a car. Renton meet time 7:35a. Waitlist will state full, but available spots will be updated in title as waitlist used to wait for deposit and spots per location. Greenlake will only have a spot if someone drops.
Due to no shows and length of drive, a deposit is required that can be refunded or applied to your gas chip ($10) Sara is driver for Greenlake and Anuja is for Renton.
Explore a chilly, pitch-black lava tube over two miles long. A short, paved, accessible trail beneath towering trees leads to a stairwell into the cave.
Ape Cave is the third longest lava tube (2.5 miles long) in North America and the cave temperature is 42 degrees F/5.6 degrees C year-round. Make sure to bring two sources of light per person (a cell phone light is not bright enough), sturdy shoes, warm clothing, even in warm weather. The cave was named by the Boy Scout troop that explored the cave in the early 1950s.
Ape Cave formed about 2,000 years ago, when an 8-mile-long lava flow known as the Cave Basalt poured down the southern flank of Mount St. Helens. As it flowed, parts of the lava started to cool, forming a hardened crust and creating an insulated tube for the still-molten lava flowing inside. Scientists estimate that the lava in the Ape Cave tube continued moving for as much as a year. Eventually, the last of the molten lava drained out through the hardened tube, leaving the interior empty. Over time, sections of the hollow tube collapsed from above, creating several natural skylights. The largest of these collapsed sections now forms the entrance to the cave.
Reservations are required and were purchased by your hosts for two cars.
We will stop by the suspension bridge portion of a neary trail and stop at a viewpoint before heading back.As mentioned above- please bring a headlamp and flashlight or lantern, warm clothes, sturdy shoes. Only water is allowed (no food). Due to narrow spaces, do not bring a bulky backpack. Please do not touch cave walls or ceiling. Touching kills cave slime, a basis for the food chain of tiny creatures that live there. HELP STOP THE SPREAD OF WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME AND PROTECT OUR CAVE ECOSYSTEM! It is believed that people are responsible for spreading the disease from cave to cave. To minimize the potential that YOU will spread the fungus to Western caves, do not bring ANY item (gear, clothing, boots, etc.) that has been used in caves or mines outside Washington or Oregon into any of the caves or mines in these states.
It won't be possible to know exactly when we will be back, so please do not sign up if you have obligations later in the day.
Please be courteous and update your rsvp instead of not showing up. I do my best to fill cars so drivers are compensated for the wear and tear and to ensure passengers have a seat. Sometimes people drop out with little notice, so waitlisters should change their RSVP to 'no' if unable to come with short notice. No shows are marked and not given spots for most events.
Please check your messages as I may need to reach you to coordinate cars/contact waitlisters after drop outs.Not open