Forest Park - Wildwood Trail

Rainy hike today close to home in Forest Park (Portland, Oregon) on the Wildwood Trail. Forest Park is one of the largest forests in the country that is within a city. There are about 70 miles of trails that crisscross the Park so lots of trails to explore! The Wildwood Trail is 30.2 miles long, making it America's longest forested urban trail. We hiked a section of this trail up to Pittock Mansion - a 46-room estate built in 1914 as a private home for the Oregonian publisher, Henry Pittock and his wife Georgiana, with a great view of the City of Portland, the Columbia River and surrounding mountains. Of course today we were lucky just to have a view of the City.  I really enjoyed the casual hike and great company! ;) It was another great day outside!

2019 Hike 39/52

5.59 miles, 1351 feet elevation gain

Mount St. Helens and Mother Nature

Today our plan was to summit Mount St. Helens. Our plan. Mother Nature had plans of her own.

My brother flew in from the East Coast to climb St. Helens. A friend of his, Wayne, organized a climbing group with high school classmates and Russ was one of them. I planned to climb St. Helens for a second time this season and just happened to choose the same date as my brother’s group so we were all climbing together. I was excited to experience another climb with my little bro.

Yesterday was beautiful and sunny. Last night Russ and I sat on the porch of the Tiny House we were staying in (so cute!) near the trailhead, talked, went on a walk, and watched the full moon move across the sky. It was stunning! Today was a completely different story. The clouds moved in and it started raining with a vengeance. The forecast predicted winds of 25-35 mph on the mountain and 4 inches of snow before we hit the summit. Definitely not an ideal situation.

We arrived at the trailhead at 6:30 a.m. and it was POURING RAIN. Wayne and two others from our group were the only three to show up which wasn’t really a surprise due to the circumstances. We decided to hit the trail and see what happened. The snow was predicted to hit us about half way up the mountain so our main goal was to STAY DRY down below so we wouldn't suffer once we hit the freezing temperatures further up (hypothermia is a real danger). That goal proved to be impossible. It was raining hard, there was water everywhere, and the wind was crazy! As we were hiking up the trail through the trees, water was flowing down the trail like a river. We had to go through multiple large puddles (more like lakes) already covering the trail.

Wayne’s feet were the first to get soaked. His gloves were soaked (“Waterproofing means nothing!”) and his clothes under his rain gear were getting soaked. The summit was no longer part of our plan. Because Wayne had not climbed on Mount St. Helens before, we suggested we continue on a little further and get above the tree line. We wanted Wayne to see what Monitor Ridge was like and experience climbing on a few boulders.

Once we were out of the trees and on the Ridge, we were completely exposed. It was very obvious that we needed to call it a day and made the decision to end our climb. Visibility was low, the rain was becoming slushy with ice, and the wind was strong and wild. Knowing we were turning back, Russ and I let our guards down (aka jacket hoods) and let ourselves get wet while trying to nab a few pictures to document the soggy (but still fun) adventure! We laughed at the craziness of it all, took pictures and headed back down the river… eh, I mean... trail. As we were going down the temperatures were noticeably dropping and the the "lakes" were spilling over. We splashed through the water (my feet were now soaked!), laughed some more and SWAM our way back to the trailhead. (We missed the gear list memo suggesting flippers instead of micro-spikes!) Within moments of us arriving at our vehicle, the other two from our group showed up having turned around too (they went ahead early on). Everyone we saw that day seemed to turn around... even the group hiking with the Mount St. Helens Institute. Mother Nature made the decision for all of us. Safety first.

We all ended up back at a restaurant in Cougar (including the MSHI group), ate breakfast, talked about the day, and made puddles of our own with our sopping wet, dripping clothes.

Until next time, St. Helens. I know you'll be waiting for our return. xoxo

As for you, Mother Nature… thanks for giving us the opportunity to laugh, dance and shiver in the rain! It was good for our souls! 💗 You do always know best! ;)

2019 Hike 38/52
4.95 Miles

Ape Cave near Mount St. Helens

I have driven past the turnoff for Ape Cave many times when hiking near or on Mount St. Helens but have never stopped to explore it. Caves aren’t something I’m excited about. I enjoy seeing pictures of them and find them fascinating but the thought of actually going underground into a big hole – sometimes narrow and tiny - gives me big anxiety. HOWEVER, when I’m around my brother... I somehow become braver. I might even have SUPERPOWERS! haha

Together we ventured into Ape Cave today...

I was surprised I was as comfortable as I was and really proud of us for doing it. I kept my breathing controlled (as well as my thoughts… until Russ mentioned “earthquakes” – such a funny guy, huh?) and I didn't feel the rapid heartbeats of anxiety until he said he wanted to show me just how dark it was by having us turn off our lights (we each had TWO). Yikes. It was completely black. Silent too. I didn’t dare take a step in any direction. With our lights ON, it was really fascinating and I truly enjoyed looking around. There were water drips and puddles throughout making it a little humid although it was pretty cold in there. There were fallen boulders from the ceiling (another scary thought) and cracks in the ground. I later read there were cave mice and other little creatures in there but thankfully didn’t see any of those… just a creepy face up on the wall.

We only saw a few other people while inside - one couple anxiously trying to get back to the entrance - the man’s voice full of anxiety as he was telling us about their hike further into the cave. Russ and I turned back when climbing up and over boulders became part of the required experience. We didn’t want to risk a fall or twist an ankle with our climb up St. Helens on the schedule for tomorrow. Exploring the Cave was great and very interesting but I sure felt relieved when we finally saw daylight, smelled the fresh air, and were on TOP of the earth again instead of within it. 😅

I found a blog post on the web when searching out the Ape Cave… much more information than I could tell you about it! You can find the entire blog post here (giving credit to the writer) but the main part is below:

The 'main' entrance is actually a sink hole that has been fitted with stairs, allowing easy access to the main cave 40 feet below. The cave itself is approx. 12,800 feet in length. It was formed about 1900 years ago when a lava flow from Mt. St. Helens filled an old river canyon with lava. As the exterior of this new lava bed cooled, the interior continued to flow, eventually forming a long, hollow tube. The information booth had a sign that said it took roughly 85 days for this to occur. Over the years, erosion has covered the upper layer of the tube making it virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding forest. The Ape Cave is currently the longest known lava tube in the Northern Hemisphere (or continental US depending on what literature you read!).

There are three 'entrances' to the cave, two of which have been modified for easy access. The 'main' entrance enters the cave about a third of the way along its length. We went along the shorter (or lower) length first. This part of the cave was about 3/4 of a mile long and was very easy to traverse. The ground, although hard and somewhat irregular, was fairly level and posed no large obstacles. The cave ceiling varied in height from roughly 5 to 30 feet (much more than 15 feet on the average). We passed through several large 'rooms' where you could see where the lava had etched long, straight lines into the cave edges and dripping lava had cooled to forms 'frozen' drops on the ceiling. The vertical drop in the lower section was only about 150 feet.

The lower section ends gradually, beginning with a 5 foot high tunnel that eventually peters off to nothing. The literature that we picked up describing the cave indicated that back in the Early Kalama Period, about 450 years ago, an eruption caused a large amount of ash to be washed into the lower section of the cave, giving it its smooth floor. Seasonal rains still cause the terminus of the lower cave to change on an annual basis.

After reaching the end of the lower section, we backtracked up to the main entrance where we entered the longer, upper section. This part of the cave was MUCH more difficult to traverse (and a lot more fun too)! There were many rock piles (where the roof had collapsed years ago?) that had to be traversed. These ranged between 5 and 25 feet in height. The ceiling height again varied from 5 to 30 feet but averaged less than in the lower cave. There were several sections where we had to climb up very steep grades (45 to 70 degrees) ranging in height from 3 to 25 feet. Midway through this section is a 90 degree, 10 foot vertical rise that you have to traverse using just foot and hand holds.

2019 Hike 37/52

3 miles