Family vacation at our favorite volcano, Mount Saint Helens.

Brock, Maddy, Dane in the town of Cougar.

Windy Ridge viewpoint, Mount Saint Helens, 12JUL2007.

Dane, Maddy, Brock and Cuzco playing in Lewis River by Swift Reservoir to cool off on this very hot day.

Ape Cave, ancient lava tube of Mount Saint Helens volcano.

Ape Cave, an ancient lava tube of Mount Saint Helens volcano, was discovered in 1947 by a logger named Lawrence Johnson. However, the cave was not explored until the early 1950s when a scout troop, led by Harry Reese, lowered a team of scouts down a 17-foot overhang to the cave floor. Leaving footprints where no one ever had, these explorers were able to travel through a pristine lava tube full of fragile formations.

Ape Cave was named by the Scout Troop in honor of their sponsor, the St. Helens Apes. This local group was made up primarily of foresters. The sponsor's name, St. Helens Apes, may have come from an old term used for foresters in the area, brush apes or from the legend of Bigfoot.