E to F to G to H: Gifford Pinchot NF to Ape Cave to Cougar, WA to campspot near Ape Cave

We slept in, as per vacation protocol. and had a nice morning reading to the sound of the Cispus River. We finally left a little after noon and drove south along 25 towards the Amboy, WA ranger station. The ranger told us areas we could disperse camp (we had thought that the monument area was off limits, apparently not) and some great news - the Windy Ridge road would be open the next day! She said they were taking off the equipment now and that we should definitely stay another night so we could go there the next day. With no need to get very far away, we drove over to the Ape Cave, found a shady spot to park the van and Buzz, grabbed our two flashlights and headed to the entrance of the cave. There were lots of people at the main entrance, so Max suggested that we walk above ground to where the upper section of the cave ended and just explore a little bit, but not walk all the way back. Once below ground, though, we decided we could make the mile back and to go for it. We kept meeting up with other groups as they walked the more traditional path through the cave, and one group of young guys helped lower us down an eight foot wall of lava flow. After climbing over more than 20 piles of jumbled rock piles, bumping our heads on low clearance areas, and almost panicking that we would never make it out of the darkness and our flashlights would all die, we finally saw a stream of light from the stairway at the entrance.Tired and hungry, we stumbled ou t of the longest lava tube in the contiguous 48 states, back to the van, and in it drove to Cougar, WA, where we stopped at the Cougar Bar and Grill. We happened to be craving hamburgers and lucky for us we happened to be there on "Burger Wednesday" - the day of the week when burgers cost $1. We each had a couple and shared the homemade kettle chips. We drove back to Gifford Pinchot National Forest and found another beautiful dispersed campspot off 83, this time further off the road into the forest on a dirt track road that Annie navigated with surprising dexterity. The spot was lovely and once again near a swiftly running creek we hoped would help us go to bed early so we could get up and out quickly to check out Windy Ridge road and MSH the next morning.

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