Inside the Rock

Ape Cave Lava Tube, Mt. St. Helens

No, I'm not really rockhounding here - I'm exploring this remarkable two-mile-long lava tube on the southern slope of Mt. St. Helens.  Lava tubes are rare here in the Northwest, where the Cascade volcanoes tend to blow up, rather than extrude a lot of liquid lava.  Still, this is one of the finest lava tubes in the US, a near-perfect tunnel that you could nearly drive a bus through.

Very cool.