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Ape Canyon
ApeCanyon-highview-daylight.jpg
Geology
Type Gorge
Geography
Location Mount St. Helens, Washington, U.S.

Ape Canyon is a deep, narrow valley, also called a gorge. It's found on the side of Mount St. Helens in Washington state. At its narrowest, the gorge is only about eight feet (2.5 meters) wide!

The canyon got its unusual name from a strange event reported in 1924. People claimed to have seen "apemen" there. This story later became part of the famous Bigfoot legends.

Ape Canyon was greatly changed by the huge 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Today, a popular trail runs next to the canyon. Hikers and mountain bikers love to explore it. Not far away, on the south side of the mountain, is a famous cave called Ape Cave.

Ape Canyon: Home of Mysterious Legends

Ape Canyon is well-known for its connection to mysterious stories. These tales have made it a famous spot in the world of folklore.

The Legend of the Apemen

In 1924, a group of miners working near Ape Canyon reported a very strange event. They claimed they were attacked by a group of "apemen." This story was even printed in a newspaper called The Oregonian on July 16, 1924.

However, some people have a different idea about what really happened. William Halliday, who studied caves, wrote a pamphlet in 1983. He suggested that the "apemen" were actually just local teenagers!

Counselors from a nearby summer camp used to tell hikers this story. They said that young campers might have been throwing light pumice stones into the canyon. They probably didn't know miners were at the bottom. The miners, looking up, would have only seen dark shapes throwing rocks. The narrow canyon walls could have made the campers' voices sound strange and scary. This might have made the miners think they were being attacked by something unusual.

The Unsolved Mystery of Jim Carter

Ape Canyon is also linked to another unsolved mystery. In August 1963, a newspaper article talked about the disappearance of a skier named Jim Carter. He vanished near Ape Canyon.

Bob Lee, a well-known mountain climber from Portland, said that Jim Carter's disappearance was a complete mystery. He and other climbers thought that "the apes got him."

Carter had left his climbing group at a spot called Dog's Head. He planned to ski around and take a picture of them. But that was the last anyone saw of him. Searchers later found a film box where he had taken a picture.

Carter's ski tracks showed he had gone down the mountain very fast. He took risks that a skilled skier like him normally wouldn't. It seemed like he was being chased. He even jumped over large cracks in the ice. When his tracks reached the steep sides of Ape Canyon, searchers were surprised. Carter had gone right down the canyon walls! But they never found him at the bottom. Search parties looked for him for five days. The search was called off after two weeks.

The Bigfoot Hoax

Another story from the same time tells about a funny hoax. An employee at a ranger station made a foot-shaped form. From time to time, he would leave its prints on the shore of Spirit Lake. This caused a lot of excitement! Later, when someone noticed all the tracks were from the same right foot, he admitted it was a joke.

Even with hoaxes, the legend of the "apemen" has continued. People still report seeing strange figures or hearing weird noises in the wilderness. These sightings keep the mystery of Mount St. Helens' hairy apes alive!

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