Ape Cave Research Papers

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The Ape Cave is located on the south side of Mt St Helens. You must drive to highway 503 past the town of Cougar. The cave is open all year round, however, the parking lot in winter could be snow covered. The Ape Cave was formed from lava that had flowed down from the volcano through steams over 2000 years ago. As the outer layer cooled, the inner area stayed hot and the lava continued to flow for months possibly up to a year after an eruption. The lava tube is the third longest known tube in the continental United States. What makes the Ape Cave so unique is the type of lava that comes from Mt .St. Helens. It is a basalt type of lava which normally does not flow with easy but solidifies due to the think consistency. Basalt lava tends to …show more content…

The tube however was not explored until the early 1950’s by a local Boy Scout troop. The troop was sponsored by St. Helen Apes. That is how the Ape Cave got its name. It was believed that Bigfoot “Hairy Ape” lived in the nearby woods. The walls of the cave are covered by a white fungus. The fungus takes many years for it to grow. The Park Rangers make sure that every visitor knows not to touch the walls. The fungus is a primary producer for many of the cave dwelling creatures. If it is rubbed off of the walls that takes away from the food source. What I found very disappointing was the constant “cave drawings” that I found. This was the first time I had been in a cave of this size. I found that the cave had a lot of people that were making excessive amounts of noise, which I did not enjoy. When I found a spot that was quite I had my wife and daughters turn off all the light and stand still for a few minutes and just listen to the sounds of the cave. When we completed the lower part of the cave we tried to start the trek to the upper part of the cave. Unfortunately by the time we got to the lower entrance and started heading up there was not much time left. So we walked as far as we could go in 30

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