Day 33 - June 12
It is a rainy morning. Donned our rain gear, and boots, and headed out. We met Mod and Jess at the trail head building at 9:00 am. They issued us hardhats with headlamps, and flashlights and told us about the area, the forest, how the caves were formed, etc… They lead the way up the hill to the cave entrance. The trail is really a boardwalk and stairs up the hillside, with about a 500 vertical foot gain in about ¼ mile. Having the stairs is easier on both the hiker and the forest. We didn’t go too fast as you don’t want to get over heated (aka sweaty) before going into the cave, where the temperature is 40 degrees.
Along the way Mod who was leading stopped to point out points of interest, the differences in the new growth forest at the bottom of the hill and the old growth forest further up, a variety of types of trees, ferns, and other vegetation, what looked like claw or slice marks on the Hemlock trees which were made by ‘flying squirrels’, etc… all very interesting. She led us into and through the cave. We wound our way 600 ft deep into the cave. We were in the middle level of the cave, which is the only level that they take the public into. It is a sponge cave in that it is full of holes and sort of resembles Swiss cheese. There are vertical shafts throughout the cave. This cave and others in the area have been mapped and had artifacts discovered and dated. In this cave on the upper level they found evidence of both black and brown bear using the cave for hibernation during the same time period. There apparently are no longer brown bear on this island. The bottom level has a river running through it. On the middle level back further than we went they found evidence of humans in the cave, there were also bones of a juvenile sea otter, cedar bark, and charcoal, some dated back to about 3500 years ago and the bear evidence as far back as 10,000 years.
Much of the rock is limestone. One of the local Forest service workers has taken a piece of the flow stone from the cave and polished on edge of it, and returned it to the cave so that they can show it to the visitors. You can clearly see the many layers of different colors etc… Apparently they have tested by looking at the layers, can tell what kinds of pollens were in the air, the temperature outside the cave as well as the age of each layer. All very interesting.
These caves were formed by water erosion, unlike the Ape Caves at Mt St Helens which were formed by lava flows. There is quite a bit more moisture in this cave than the Ape Caves which makes it quite slippery in places. As I was walking through this cave I remembered going to the Ape Caves with the boy and girl scouts some years ago. I could just picture those kids in this cave climbing all over and having a blast trying to scare each other. Unlike the Ape Caves, up here they are taking steps to protect the sights in the cave and it’s continuing to evolve.
Jess the other guide is a college student from Chicago out here interning with the Forest Service for a summer adventure. She is a biology major hoping to become a teacher. What a great way to spend a summer. If there are people wanting to go into the cave, they lead up to three tours a day. Jess said that she will be in great shape by the end of the summer.
We did not find much written about this area or the cave, but would recommend taking this side adventure to others.
We were back to the boats by about 11:15 am and after lunch we headed out. It is still raining. Glen and I ducked into a place called ‘Hole in the Wall’ for a quick peek. Another one of those very narrow entrances to a nice protected bay. Glen loves this type of entrance. This one even has a tree down sticking out across to make it more fun. If we’d wanted we could have reached out and touched the tree as we went by. I didn’t as it was raining. I did venture out to get a couple photos of the passage however.
Stopped in at Port Protection so Tom could get some fuel. Very small place, so in and out quickly. Oddly we got phone coverage for a short time and internet access for about 5 minutes just outside the harbor; but no coverage in the harbor. Go figure.
Rainy, gray, foggy afternoon with lumpy water. Pulled into Red Bay for the night. Glen and Tom worked on Tom’s generator as it didn’t want to run today. They originally thought the problem was related to a shortage of fuel but after taking on more fuel the problem continued. Turned out that the fuel level was so low that it drained all the generator fuel lines, once they were re-primed all was well again.
Tom tried his hand at fishing again tonight. Yikes we could go hungry if we had to live off his fishing skills. Note that Glen doesn’t even get his line wet very often so I guess I have to give Tom points for trying.
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