Exploring Ape Cave Lava Tubes and Jumping Off Icy Cold Lower Lewis Falls

So here we are, lower Lewis Falls, epic waterfall, starting to rain a little bit. I think I'm going to take the plunge off the top of this guy. Hey guys, I'm in Portland, Oregon today with my buddy, Mike here. You might remember him if you follow my Instagram as the guy that humped my leg outside the hat store. Today we're headed to the Ape Cave Lava Tubes up in Washington state near Mount St. Helen. We're going to check out this unique geological phenomenon, lava tube, maybe a waterfall. Maybe I'm going to get down to my underwear. Check it out. So we're now about an hour and a half north of Portland in the Mount St. Helen's National Volcanic Monument. We're headed to the Ape Cave Lava Tubes. So we're going to hit the upper one first. We're going to check that out. We're assuming it's going to be less crowded cause it's more difficult. So it's about a mile up the trail from the lower lava tube. So this is our first time in a lava tube, Mike's and mine. And Mike was just getting ready to tell me how lava tubes are formed. So when two lava tubes love each other very much, they spend a special night together. And then eight to 10 million years later, a tube is born. If you guys thought my jokes were bad, this guy, I got them all day folks. But the real way lava tubes are formed is as the lava is flowing, the outer edge of the lava is going to cool faster than the faster moving inner lava. And so as that outer edge hardens, that creates a tube and the molten lava still flows through it. And so that's what is left behind is a lava tube. So it's kind of like a cave tunnel. I'm excited to check it out. It's the first time checking out a lava tube. Mike is, Mike's excited to do some hand gestures, exploring sign language in the woods, uh, with Mike. So as we're walking along the trail here, the upper ape cave, the path is covered in this, uh, old lava flow. You can tell it's an igneous formation. Igneous rocks are made a hundred percent of the time from volcanic lava. So this being so close to Mount St. Helens, which is a volcano. And there's actually several other volcanoes in this area. You can clearly see that this path, this rock path right here used to be lava, molten lava at one point. So we're here at the lava tube. People coming up the ladder and then we're going to head down into the depths of Mordor there. Lava tube looks awesome. I'm excited. Why do you feel cold? Well, I'm getting great. It's like an oasis, a light oasis. Beautiful. So Mike just shared a fact with me that, um, this lava tube is actually 42 degrees Fahrenheit year round. So in the dead of winter, uh, when it's snow on the ground above, it relatively warm down here. If it's above freezing up there, 42 degrees year round. It doesn't feel that cold yet. Um, I imagine the deeper we get, the colder it's going to get. The ape cave was so cool. My first lava tube experience, Mike's first lava tube experience, all a bunch of little nooks and crannies, a couple of little offshoot caves that we explored all in all lava tubes, totally awesome adventure. And you know what? Fun for all ages. There was a lot of little kids there, a couple older folks there. We really enjoyed it. We didn't do the lower one because it's kind of a more beginner thing and we already did the hardest one. So we figured we'd just be disappointed. Besides we want to save some daylight to go jump off some icy cold waterfalls. Awesome. So here we are, lower Lewis falls, epic waterfall starting to rain a little bit. I think I'm going to take the plunge off the top of this guy. I'm just going to help Mike get set up on a low angle shot. Go for a quick dip. What do you guys think? Oh my God, guys. Great day here in the Northwest. First we did the ape cave lava tube and then this icy cold, almost like a glacial waterfall. Lower Lewis falls just took the plunge off of that thing. Epic, awesome, crisp, crystal clear water freezing, but my adrenaline was pumping. It felt so good. I feel so alive right now. Also, I'm starting to fade, getting a little tired. I want all you guys to get out there. Don't be afraid of being cold, being confined, being in dark spaces. All that stuff is temporary. Nothing lasts forever. Get out there, find your own adventure and be infamous. Infamous.