Ape Cave Interpretive Site — Attraction in Battle Ground

Our experience here was very good. We pre-bought the Ape cave pass which covered the 3 of us in one car and along with the Northwestern Park Pass. There is plenty of parking and a vault toilet on site as well as a gift shop which has pretty much anything you need for the cave trek. We were already prepared and went on a tuesday so we got right in. FYI, this is a non-guided self directed tour. We started out down the lower, easier part of the cave which took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get through. It's rated easy and it definitely is. There are no real obstacles if you're on two feet and the floor through here is fairly even also it is quite cavernous so there are no situations where you'll climb over anything. It was a little chilly to start but as you walk you inevitably warm up. Now, the upper section is definitely more difficult and I wouldn't recommend it for anyone not able bodied and relatively fit. There are many large rock falls and at one point you will need the ability to pull yourself up a 7' wall as well as be able to climb a ladder about 20' high in order to get out. My wife sat out this section and left my son & I to venture it. It took us about another hour and a half to complete this section and that was without dilly dallying like we did on the lower section. If you head up this section keep in mind that you will have to trek back to the start down a forest path which has its own difficulties. We ran a bit over our allotted time but no one seemed to mind. This adventure was quite a lot of fun and the cave was really cool. We would definitely go again. FYI, there were no bats present on the...

My friends and I went to ape caves for thanks giving(total 3 ppl). We took the upper caves path at 3PM and we exited at 4:30pm. It took us about 1.5hrs (one and half an hr) to enter and exit the cave. It included all kinds of adventures one can imagine (small rope climbing + steep rock climbing + walking in water etc). At 4:30 pm it was getting dark outside and was rainy. The "blue diamonds" are suppose to show the path towards parking spot which usually takes about 40 minutes unless you take an other path or get lost in the forest which happened to us. We were almost close to our destination but in between there was a water (river kinda) flowing, so we stepped back thinking its wrong way. As we went back little bit, there were blue diamonds n hence we followed them which led us into forest. Finally in complete darkness we figured out we were lost when we saw 4 blue diamonds pointing to all 4 different directions. After an hour n 15 minutes of walking in mud and water in complete darkness with torch to give some light with some hope to live, we dared to cross the river n see whats on the other side. After following few blue diamonds we saw our car parking spot and were so happy that we made right decision instead of giving up n sleeping in forest. It took us overall 1.5hrs(one n half hr) in the forest. So watch out the signs n start your journey early so that you won't get lost in the forest in darkness. Overall worth spending time if you are adventurous like we are. Don't forget torch and gear...

The Ape Caves are awesome, as I expected they would be! Everything is awesome, though, in the Mount Saint Helens area! Some areas leave you feeling like you're on another planet altogether! 😊

This lava tube is about 2.5 miles long, making it the 3rd longest lava cave in North America, which I thought was a cool fact! There is a lower and upper trail to this cave. The lower is family friendly and easy, while the upper is a bit harder and not for everyone. Give yourself about 2 hours if you want the full experience. 👍🏼

Like any cave, it's chilly in there; roughly 42 degrees year-round, so bring some warmer clothing. I personally find layering to be the best in accommodating all the elements. I also would highly recommend wearing hiking shoes because you will need the grip that hiking shoes provide; some areas are moist, and the rocks can be quite slippery. You will definitely need a bright flashlight and/or headlamp (both is best though), because the flashlight on your cell phone doesn't even come close to being bright enough. Fortunately, you can rent lanterns at the Ape Headquarters, as well as buy some necessary items too from their gift shop. You can also purchase day tickets here for $5. Annual passes are available for purchase here too. The Ape Cave headquarters are open 7 days a week in season (in season being May 18th-October 31st) from 9am-5pm.

I recommend anything in this area! Mount Saint Helens is a beauty all of its own; a...