Cirque du St. Helens - Stage 2

Eruption devestation | Copyright 2006 Charles H. Porter, all rights reserved

Editor’s note: While I was climbing Bonanza Peak in early July, Nick and my dad took a three day motorcycle trip. This is their story, as told by Nick.

Saturday, 1 July
Stage 2: Chillin’. Randle to Cougar, WA.
Distance: 65 miles.
Conditions: Morning: Mid-50s to low 60s. Afternoon: 70s to high 80s. Sunny. 

We weren’t the only motorcyclists at the Adams and St. Helens Family Restaurant. As we walked in, the rider of the purple Harley outside was paying his bill. Shortly before we left, the pilot of a black KTM 950 walked in.

We got our second helping of Highway 25. Ignoring the turnoff to Windy Ridge we continued south, enjoying the twisty roads and stopping to take in the views. Stopped at a viewpoint, we got to talking with a man on an older Harley Davidson coming from the other direction. “Nice day for it,” “Where’d ye start from?” “Where’r ye going?” “Nice tassels.” This man had left Vancouver, WA, that morning and was meeting his daughter in Randle. He and Chuck got to talking about the magnitude of various volcanic explosions including the one that formed Crater Lake.  We parted ways and twenty minutes later found ourselves at the turn off for the Ape Cave. We had no option but to investigate.

The Ape Cave is a lava tube, discovered by a logger and named after his son’s Boy Scout troupe, nicknamed the St. Helens Apes. We took a guided tour led by a park ranger, though you can also walk around the caves on your own. Equipped with a hefty Coleman lantern, we descended the steps into the dark, damp, and very cold cave for some serious chillin’. It’s about 40 degrees in the Ape Cave, and while I loved the mesh jacket for riding in the scorching summer temperatures of the surface, it did precious little to keep me warm down here. To the ranger’s knowledge, nobody had ever lived in the Ape Cave, though Chuck thought it might make a good winter hideout, when the ground is warmer than the air outside.

10 miles down the road is Cougar. When I was an active yacht racer, I used to sail a regatta on Yale Lake, just a few minutes out of Cougar. I thought I remembered the town having a gas station, a few small grocery stores, some bars, and a smattering of other small businesses. You could stock up for the post-race barbecue by going into town. Now, Cougar has a combination gas station/general store, a diner with a bar in the back, and the Lone Fir Resort and RV Park, where we had a room. Following lunch on the deck at the Lone Fir’s modest restaurant, we weighed our options. Chuck wanted to hop back on the bikes to explore the road past the Ape Cave. I was melting. I wanted to sit in the shade by the lake and take a nap. In the end, neither of us won. We sat on the front porch of our motel and watched the campground world go by until dinner time when we got up to play a few games of choose-your-own-adventure darts (neither of us know how to play) and wander down the street for dinner. Funny thing about these little towns. All the food on offer is fried. I opted for the taco salad.

To be continued...

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