Portland: The Mt. St. Helens Adventure Tour – Castle Rock, Washington

EXPERIENCE:

Spend a full day crawling, climbing, and hiking with your professional guide as you experience Oregon’s natural surroundings up close.

Travel north of Portland along the lower Columbia River, known for 18th-century Spanish, American, and British explorers, and the Chinookan people. Crawl through a lava tree mold during a 20-minute hike in a landscape reminiscent of a fairy-tale amusement park, before beginning your descent into Ape Cave, one of the longest continuous lava tubes in North America. Spend 1-2.5 hours exploring this cave, named for a purported Sasquatch attack.

Weather permitting, you will spend an hour at the closest viewpoint into the crater of the volcano, where you will eat a picnic lunch, overlooking Spirit Lake. Here, if there are no clouds, walk up the 437-step staircase to get a photo of Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier, and of course, Mt. St. Helens. Before returning to Portland, you’ll make additional 5-to-30-minute stops to enjoy vistas, hike through oldgrowth forest, and admire a waterfall.

Throughout the day you’ll learn about the geological history that shaped Mt. St. Helens and the Cascadia region.

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

Visit a viewpoint into the crater of sublime Mt. St. Helens
Gaze at crystalline waterfalls
Spelunk through one of the longest lava tubes in North America
Hike through enchanting oldgrowth forest
Relax with an all-inclusive excursion

Discover top places to stay, exciting tours, and unforgettable events in Washington, and popular cities like Seattle, and Tacoma.