Mount Townsend

 We drove out to the upper trailhead to Mount Townsend near Quilcene. This is an 8 mile rt hike with 2,900 ft of elevation gain. This hike goes uphill right away.

 The first mile or so of the trail was lined with rhododendrons in bloom.

 After emerging from the forest, the enters a subalpine meadow, where we saw lots of wildflowers in bloom.

 We also saw a waterfall along the lower slopes.














Wide angle photo of the Olympic Mountains to the west as seen from the saddle of Mount Townsend:

 A short ways up from the saddle is the summit of Mount Townsend

Pano to the west from atop Mount Townsend

 Pano to the east from atop Mount Townsend, today was very cloudy on this side.

 On the way back down, the clouds started to lift and we could see Mt Rainier to the SE













and the snow capped North Cascades

Some of the many wildflowers and other plants we saw along the trail today:

Ape Caves

 Went down to the south side of Mt St Helens to hike to the Ape Caves with a HS hiking club. There is a short paved trail to the main entrance of the lower cave.

 There are steps leading down to the main entrance. Here you can enter both the Lower and Upper Caves

 It is very dark in the caves. The lower cave is the larger of the two caves.












There is a narrower section at the far end of the Lower Ape Cave

 It becomes so narrow, you need to do a combat crawl to enter another, smaller chamber. I did not go there.

 We returned up the Lower Ape Cave, and instead of going up the stairs, we went into the Upper Ape Cave. This was a slightly narrower cave and very dark. I got a few photos of the ceiling and cave walls

 Looks like a harden mud flow:

 Near the far end of the Upper Ape Cave, there is an opening, allowing sunlight to enter

Looking up at the opening.

 Far end of the Upper Ape Cave, there is a ladder to climb out.

 Nearing the exit/entrance

 Entrance/exit at the far end of the Upper Ape Cave

 The trail back to the trailhead is mixed dirt and lava.

 There were some interesting holes in the lava:

There were a few wildflowers in bloom along the trail: