A trip to Ape Caves

Today we drove up to Mt. St. Helens to do some hiking and visit the Ape Caves. We toured the lower cave (which is actually a 2000 year old lava tube).

Prior to entering the caves, Ryan accidentally broke his flashlight. Once in the cave, we learned Tyler's flashlight was low on batteries, so we were down to our lantern.

Above Sarah is the formation called "The Meatball"

We made it to the end of the lower cave!

Leaving the caves, which were 42 degrees and heading toward the light where it was a warmer 65 degrees!

Our next stop was a trip to the Trail of Two Forests!
One of the ancient tree molds in the lava bed.
The kids all went through "the crawl"
Sarah exiting "The Crawl"

After hiking the Trail of Two Forests, we drove up to the Climber's Bivouac, which is at an elevation of 3750 feet according to the "Volcano Review Guide" . Tori stopped to pose for a photo when we reached the top.
Tyler wanted me to take a photo of him playing his air guitar.

There was snow at Climber's Bivouac so of course a snowball fight had to happen.
View while driving down the gravel road from Climber's Bivouac

Our next stop was Marble Mountain Sno-Park.

There wasn't any snow, much to the kids dismay, but we took a short hike around the trails that are usually reserved for cross country skiing and snowmobiles.
Hiking the trails
A picture we took when we were leaving Mt. St. Helens. The clouds were finally blowing to the east, so the mountain was out!
Photo of Swift Reservoir we took on our way home