We just finished another great campout. We headed out to the Ape Caves in Washington. We met at the church at 4:30 PM and then headed out to meet Portland rush-hour traffic. Our group included three Suburbans and two sedans. It was great to see the support by the parents and leaders for this campout.
We decided to camp in Cougar, Washington at a campground. When we arrived it was dark and raining. The rain didn't stop the entire evening and morning. The campground was wet and muddy. It was hard to find a good spot to setup our tents. Check out the photos to get a good idea of what it looked like.
In the morning we ate breakfast and then broke camp. All of out tents were completely wet. We rolled them up and threw them in the trailer. (I hope your scouts have cleaned and dried the tents since then).
We all piled into the three suburbans and headed up to the Ape Caves. It was about a 20 minute drive and when we arrived, we found ourselves in deep snow with lots of snow falling. We parked the cars in the lower parking lot as the upper lot was closed and inaccessible using vehicles. We hiked in about 3/4 mile in the snow to get to the entrance of the Ape Caves.
We finally arrived at the entrance of the Ape Caves and started our fun journey. We decided to go through the Upper Caves which is about 1.5 miles long. This was my first time at the caves and I was amazed. To think of the heat and forces of nature that formed those caves….it’s amazing. Just another time in my life where I recognize the beauty of Heavenly Father’s creations.
Inside the caves we were faced with large obstacles and it was great to see the scout’s support and help each other over these obstacles. I am happy to say that everyone made it through to the end.
When we exited the cave, we were surrounded in snow. It was beautiful.
We then started our hike back to the vehicles which was about 2.5 miles.
To view all of the pictures that I took, click here:
