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

The Ape Cave makes a sharp bend in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in Washington state. 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 Ape Cave makes a sharp bend in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in Washington state. 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.