Opening pic
There have been a rash of Ape cave photos on the PH Facebook group of late, that coupled with another rainy Sunday sent us in that direction yesterday, after all it doesn't rain underground right! I had hiked the lower cave back in 80's but had never done the upper cave.
We arrived at 9:30am to only 2 other cars in the rainy parking lot, we would be very surprised by how the parking lot would look 3.5 hours later when we returned.
Let's go and see whats down here!
We first did the lower cave, an easy 0.75 mile (each way) out and back to the end of the cave.
Tenacious explorers can crawl on their bellies to the "very end"
End of the road!
Next was the 1.5 mile long upper section which was a lot more fun, scrambling over big rock piles in the dark! Nothing difficult but definitely lots of opportunity to twist an ankle or fall awkwardly.
One drip at a time!
The filed guide talks of an 8' wall that has to be scrambled up. This was a lot of fun but I'll admit it would have been harder than it was if someone hadn't left a short section of rope there. We definitely used it!
After negotiating Lava Falls there are a few more large rock piles and narrow spots to work your way through. Nothing requiring a stick of butter though
...
If you do this hike take a moment to stop and turn out all your lights and sit in the pitch black for a minute or two, it's an interesting feeling. What I also noticed is after a while you have no idea how far you have traveled and how far you have to go!
After a while we reached the skylight, It was interesting to see how much wood has fallen in through this skylight over the hundreds of years it's been there.
A few more rock piles and narrow sections to negotiate after the skylight.
We walked past the upper skylight exit and on to the upper end of the cave. After Negotiating all the rock piles & tricky spots without any falls or scrapes poor Chiyoko fell on this dangerously flat section! She is nursing 2 bruised knees today.
At the upper end of the cave we saw all the shitty graffiti on the walls left by dimwitted morons. We returned to the upper ladder and came out the surprisingly small upper exit!
The Cave in cross section.
We had only seen an handful of other groups inside the cave and most of them between the Skylight and the upper exit. Walking back down the trail we past quite a few groups coming up to begin at the top.
We got back to the trail head at 1:00 and couldn't believe our eyes, the place was a zoo, car park completely full, overflow lot half full & long lines at the restrooms. I can't imagine what this place must be like on a Summers day! We decided to drive the half mile down the trail to the Trail Of Two Forests Trail Head, the lot was empty so we stopped for lunch.
After lunch we thought that we may as well walk the short interpretive trail. We were glad we did as we got to see the old lava tree casts left when lava flooded the forest 2000 years earlier.
We also got to do "The Crawl" this is where Lava had covered 2 fallen trees that have long since disappeared leaving hollow tubes with their bark cast into the lava that you can crawl through. Not for the claustrophobic but a lot of fun.
Hot tip: Shorts are not the best attire for this kind of thing
Another fun day out in (or rather under) the woods! my only advice would be if you want to go and do this GO EARLY in the day before the madding horde arrives!
