Today 4 of us headed out to hike at Goat Creek in the northern most part of the Mt. St. Helens National Monument. Unfortunately, the road to the trail head was closed due to extreme fire danger. Needless to say, we were quite disappointed after driving all the way there. So, we headed to the ranger station in Randle & got some recommendations for a couple of hikes in the Cispus area.
We hiked a very short 1 mile through spiderweb infested trails at Woods Creep Loop. There wasn't much to see other than a bunch of slugs and some frogs. We would have hiked further, but there were stinging nettles and 3 of us were in shorts. So, after that we headed to Layser Cave, which was interesting, but definitely not a destination. The hike to the cave was extremely short. We did see amazing views of Mt. Adams & Tower Rock. Everyone was a good sport about today's lackluster adventure. I'm hoping our next Yoh! adventure will be a bit more successful!
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| Gabby taking a picture as we made our way to Randle. |
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| We encountered Smokey the Bear at the Ranger Station. |
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| Victoria checking out the map... |
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| On our way to our first destination. |
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| Woods Creek as seen from the bridge. |
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| We don't look too happy in this picture. |
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| Banana slug |
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| Can you spot the frog? He's pretty well camouflaged...he is brown and just right of that yellow leaf. |
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| A group photo. It was hard to find a spot for the camera. Pictured: Kassia, Susan, Gabby & Victoria. |
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| Gabby's excited face ;) |
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| On our way to Layser Cave we crossed over the Iron Creek bridge and decided to stop & take a look. |
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| Iron Creek a little further down. I love the color of the water. |
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| Finally...the trail to Layser Cave. It was a bit of a drive down a very winding and narrow gravel road. |
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| Trail to the cave. |
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| Information on Layser Cave: In 1982 Tim Layser, a Forest Service worker, discovered this cave. Archeologists were amazed because it appeared untouched since its abandonment about 3,500 years earlier after Mount St. Helens blanketed the area with a deep layer of ash. They found animal bone & stone fragments more than 7,000 years old. It was possibly the ancestors of the Tainapam, or Upper Cowlitz Indians, who used this case seasonally for 3,500 years. |
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| Kassia heading into the cave. |
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| Looking outwards... |
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| Victoria and I are just sitting around the campfire. |
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| Peekaboo view of Mt. Adams |
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| This is the view of Tower Rock as we were driving to Layser Cave... |
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| This was the view of Tower Rock from the Layser Cave trail. |
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| After viewing the cave we stopped by the Cowlitz River to eat our lunch before heading home. |
