Four hikers from Vancouver heard shouts for help from two Camas men stuck and experiencing hypothermia near the upper entrance of the Ape Cave on Monday and made what may have been a lifesaving call to local rescue crews.
“If these other folks hadn’t got there when they did, I’m seriously wondering if these folks would have survived,” Tom McDowell, of North Country EMS and the Volcano Rescue Team of Yacolt, said when he shared details of the rescue that started Monday and lasted into Tuesday morning.
Two men identified only as John and Robert, brothers who are both from Camas, drove their vehicle as far as they could on Road No. 8303, stopping only when roads became unpassable because of heavy snow. They were about a mile away from the cave when they parked and set out on foot.
It’s not clear exactly when the men parked the vehicle, but McDowell said they told rescuers they left Camas at about 11 a.m. Monday.
The men hiked a mile through snow and then another mile and a half through the cave, exiting through the ladder at the north entrance. Cold and exhausted, they got lost.
It was about 4 p.m. when a group of unidentified hikers from Vancouver reached the area and heard their pleas for help.
“It’s probably the only two groups that have been in the caves in two days,” McDowell said. “(The second group was) looking at the trail to see what it looked like when they heard these guys yelling. They helped them out of the snow and into the cave and out of the weather a little bit.”
Out of the snow, the men were too tired to walk back through the cave.
Rescuers from North Country EMS and the Volcano Rescue Team, as well as the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office, responded with blankets, food, heat packs and clothes for the men.
McDowell said it took about two hours before the men were warm and replenished enough to walk out.
“The two guys were shivering, extremely hypothermic,” McDowell said. “We had about 14 (Volcano Rescue Team) folks. They actually found a shorter route to get out. We helped them up the really, really steep embankment to go out.”
McDowell said the two men reached their vehicle at about 1 a.m. He said it’s not common for many people to hike the Ape Cave in the winter.
“The trail’s not really well-marked,” McDowell said. “If you don’t know where you’re going, you can get turned out pretty quick.”
Ape Cave is about three miles northeast of the town of Cougar.
Full names, ages and addresses of the men were not available.
