Mile 1715 - Ape Caves, WA

We had planned to take the scenic route through Washington to get to Seattle.  This was all changed when we came across a sign that said "Ape Caves, 20 miles".  We had been told by a friend in passing that we should go to the ape caves, but conversation turned and we never actually talked about what they are and why we should go there and the topic was forgotten...until we saw the sign, which bring us to our afternoon activity.  

What does your mind think of when you hear "Ape Caves"?  Sarah first pictured an opening into a dark, rocky cavern, which would lead to the home of an ape.  But then she realized that that was silly as they were currently in Washington, not Uganda.  She realized she was influenced by the bat cave that she hiked to in Queen Elizabeth National Park, which housed millions of bats and one happy python who lived in deep crevice and had a million tasty snacks flying around him that he could snag whenever the hunger urge struck. 

Well, it wasn't exactly like that...

Aaron was just excited. Caves are awesome, Apes are awesome; this was bound to be worth the 20 mile diversion.

In reality, it was a 2+ mile long lava tube, carved during a volcanic explosion many moons ago, which did not contain a single ape...or does it!?!  We found it didn't contain much of anything: no sunlight, no wildlife, no plants...just rocks, darkness and crazy people who decided to walk from one end to the other.  Of course we chose to do the more difficult upper cave, we will not take the easy way out!  You must bring a light source, and a mandatory back-up for when that one goes out.  It's about 40 degrees as it's totally underground so you must dress warm.  And of course, we brought our cameras.

Just as we descended underground, Sarah realized that this actually may cause her to feel claustrophobic and made a light comment about it preparing Aaron.  What resulted was a comedy of errors in which Sarah needed to keep moving and Aaron "needed" to stop and get just the right picture. In addition to claustrophobia, Sarah started suffering from frustration and needed to hurry Aaron otherwise the walls were going to cave in or lava would start flowing through the tube and wash them away. Aaron also became frustrated that Sarah didn't share the desire to take 2 minute long pictures in this ideal environment for long shutter speeds.  Hmmmm....After a few hours, they made it to the exit up top and breathed a sigh of relief.  Sarah had TONS of amazing space around her and Aaron formulated an appropriate apology. The hike back down was a very pleasant experience for all.

So why is it called the Ape Caves?  The world may never know.

The Descent into the Cave

Prepared for Darkness

Aaron doing his thing

This picture took 4 minutes. Seriously?

Sarah is not so thrilled at this moment.

The light at the end of the tunnel

See? It's pretty cramped space.