After the moss experience it seemed like a good idea to move elsewhere, to a place where there was much less chance of being absorbed into the forest. Bigfoot hunting seemed the ideal thing. Exactly where Bigfoot is meant to live is really rather vague here; there seems to be a commotion about it in California, but every national park boasts the big ape-y thing for its own. Thus, the Ape Cave in Washington seemed like the ideal place to start.

Unfortunately, the park rangers at the information station didn't seem to think that the Ape Cave was a good idea for us. It's still the off-season here, lots of things being covered in heaps of snow, and they told us that we wouldn't be able to even get to the cave without snow shoes. Luckily, we had shoes of our own, and having put a bit of snow on them we began to make the hike.

It was indeed a very snowy place. Ignoring the drifts, the snow in the mountains came up to knee to mid-thigh level. Behold a bench that was:



Still, if Bigfoot could get through, so could we. It was less than a mile to the cave, and although it took us nearly an hour it was well worth it. The cave itself was Really Very Dark, and stank of sulphur (it's really a lava tunnel formed when Mt St Helens erupted in 1980). It was also rather cold. A concerted search failed to reveal Bigfoot, though, or any bears or cougars in the cave. Rubbish. There were, however, some bats, and we were very good and did not throw things at them to make them fly again in case they gave us rabies. Oh, and it's probably not good for them.

Originally published at Where Is Greg?.