UW Crane Trip

This was the goal, but the winds picked up and we had to be satisfied with exploring the area. which we had no problem doing.





So instead of exploring the treetops, we went sub-terrainian. This is Ape Cave. Ape Cave is 12,810 feet long-- that's almost 2-1/2 miles long! It is the longest intact lava tube in the United States, and the second longest in the world.
Ape Cave lava tube, which formed in one of these basalt flows ... (Cave Basalt flows about 2,000 years ago) ... is the longest lava tube (12,810 feet or 3.9 kilometers) in the conterminous United States (similar tubes are found in Oregon, California, and Idaho) and one of the longest in the world. The cave was constructed by a pahoehoe flow that crusted over; soon after, the molten lava on the inside drained away, leaving the outer crust in place. Lava stalactites and stalagmites and flow marks can be seen on the walls and floor of the cave. Lava stalactites, conical or cylindrical deposits of lava that hang from the ceiling of a tube, are formed by dripping; stalagmites are similar in shape and are formed on the floor of the tube by the accumulation of drips from the ceiling. Some time later, a sandy lahar flowed into the cave, possibly in A.D. 1480 or 1482 because the deposit contains white pumice granules that resemble W tephra.