Lower Ape Cave, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Washington

The ceiling of the Ape Cave, a lava tube in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in Washington state, somewhat mimics the shape of the passage below. The Ape Cave is 13,042 feet long (3,975 meters), making it the third-longest lava tube in North America. It formed during an eruption of Mount St. Helens approximately 2,000 years ago. An 8-mile-long (13-kilometer-long) lava flow poured down the southern flank of the volcano. Lava cools from the outside-in, so the flow became like a straw, allowing lava to continue to flow through a hardened crust.

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The ceiling of the Ape Cave, a lava tube in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in Washington state, somewhat mimics the shape of the passage below. The Ape Cave is 13,042 feet long (3,975 meters), making it the third-longest lava tube in North America. It formed during an eruption of Mount St. Helens approximately 2,000 years ago. An 8-mile-long (13-kilometer-long) lava flow poured down the southern flank of the volcano. Lava cools from the outside-in, so the flow became like a straw, allowing lava to continue to flow through a hardened crust.