Lewis River Trail

Bikes, Boots and Beers
The last weekend before our parade of summer visitors started filtering in was an extremely enjoyable one. We packed up our bikes, boots and beers and drove north into Washington to the Lewis River Trail in Gifford Pinchot National Forest. I was jonesing for a few days of biking, hiking, camping and relaxing. This little weekender prooved to scratch the itch in just the right spot.

Shadow, my sweet ride, is smilin' big. :)

Live and Learn
We drove about three hours to get to the trailhead at Curly Falls only to learn from a guy at the general store that he "drove up from Hood River in about an hour". Ahhh. Back roads. Good to know.


Everything in it's Right Place
The Lewis River is BEAUTIFUL. It's one of those places that allows you some real solitude, which to me, feels like a real vacation. Tom drove to the local store to grab some firewood while I set up camp and mosied around and admired the gushing river.

We camped right near the trailhead at Curly Creek.

After setting up camp, we hopped on the bikes and hit the trail. It was still early in the season, so we spent a lot of time carrying the bikes over debris—the flooding from this past winter did a lot of damage to the trail and shelters when it dumped giant trees everywhere like splintered toothpicks. Because of all the obstacles, we did a lot less riding and a lot more hike-a-bike. We were spent around four miles in and only ended up riding 8 of the 22 miles of trail. On the trail we passed some really awesome campsites located right on the river's edge. Hopefully we'll get back up here this summer or fall.

Back at camp, we had some Pasta Primavera and Mac & Cheese for dinner. The Mountain House packaging has Mount Hood pictured on the front!


Our dinner paired deliciously with a familiar beverage—Yuengling Lager. We can't get Yuengling out here in Oregon, so Tom brought a few cases back when he drove his truck out to our new state. Thank you, sir. Fire! FIRE!

Who, me?

Bring on the bears!

Nothing satisfies me more than a weekend in the woods.
I heart the campfire and lap bears.

Tom says hello to a clouded St. Helens.

Smokin'
The headwaters of the Lewis arise on the southern flanks of Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams. The Coldwater Ridge Visitor's Center, located in the northern part of Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument, is slated to close this November because it needs a million dollars in repairs and the park service is poor. A girl I met at Full Sail Brewery one day told me about this visitor's center and how cool it is. Since were in the general vicinity, we decided to take a ride up on Sunday morning.

The ride up to this area of the park was long (2.5 hours) and the experience, anti-climactic. We went from morning sun to clouds and rain, the visitor center is run down, the staff is less than knowledgable and the MSH movie they show is piss poor. I was certainly not impressed.


Grape Ape Cave
The highlight of the day was the 3-mile hike at Ape Cave. Ape Cave is a lava tube that was formed 2,000 years ago when Mount St. Helens erupted. The lava flow came down from high on the slopes. Over several weeks, this lava flow began to cool and crust over on the surface, while the lava beneath the surface continued to flow. At the end of the eruption, the lava flowed out of the tube. It left behind Ape Cave as we see it today. Ape Cave is 12,810 feet long—that's almost 2.5 mles long! It is the longest intact lava tube in the U.S. and the second longest in the world.

We suited up with warm clothes and headlamps and climbed down the metal staircase into the cave to enjoy an Indiana Jones-esque adventure. Inside the cave it is a cool, constant 42 degrees and damp. We enjoyed scrambling over boulders in the dark. We turned off our lights to experience true darkness. Neat!

Tom and Spoka check out one of the two natural skylights in Ape Cave.

After emerging back into daylight, we walked the loop trail back to the parking area from the upper cave. This short trail is enjoyable, with moss-covered boulder fields, evergreens and openings in the ground that hint of more caves—there are about 60 lave tube caves in the Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams vicinity.

We took the smart way home and cut our drive back to Hood River from 3 hours to 1 hour. Can't beat a few extra hours at home to clean up and rest up before getting back into the work-week swing. I heart living on vacation. :) :) :)