Ape Canyon is a gorge along the edge of the Plains of Abraham on the northeast shoulder of Mount St. Helens

Mount St. Helens

Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is south of Seattle, Washington and northeast of Portland, Oregon. Mount St. Helens takes its English name from the British diplomat Lord St Helens, a...

 in the state of Washington. The gorge narrowed to as close as eight feet at one point. The name alludes to a reported encounter with several "apemen" in 1924, an event later incorporated into Bigfoot

Bigfoot

Bigfoot, also known as sasquatch, is an ape-like cryptid that purportedly inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid...

 folklore.

Ape Canyon was heavily impacted by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens

1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens

The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, a stratovolcano located in Washington state, in the United States, was a major volcanic eruption. The eruption was the only significant one to occur in the contiguous 48 U.S. states since the 1915 eruption of Lassen Peak in California...

. Adjacent to the steep rocky canyon is the present Ape Canyon trail, popular with hikers and mountain bikers. On the south side of the mountain is another feature named Ape Cave

Ape Cave

Ape Cave is a lava tube located in Gifford Pinchot National Forest just to the south of Mount St. Helens in Washington state. Its passageway is the longest continuous lava tube in the continental United States, at . Ape Cave is a popular hiking destination with beautiful views of the Mount St....

.

Alleged Bigfoot attack

Ape Canyon was reportedly the site of a violent encounter in 1924 between a group of miner

Miner

A miner is a person whose work or business is to extract ore or minerals from the earth. Mining is one of the most dangerous trades in the world. In some countries miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without assistance....

s and a group of apemen

Apeman

"Apeman" is an unscientific term that can allude to several things that generally have some of the traits of both other apes and humans:* Tarzan is sometimes referred to as an "Apeman."...

.
These allegations were reported on in the July 16, 1924 issue of The Oregonian

The Oregonian

The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...

.
Fred Beck, one of the miners, claimed they shot and possibly killed at least one of the creatures, precipitating an attack on their cabin, during which the creatures bombarded the cabin with rocks and tried to break-in. Beck detailed his claims in a book written in 1967, in which he identified the creatures as mystical beings from another dimension, explaining that he had experienced psychic premonitions and visions his entire life of which the apemen were only one component.

William Halliday, director of the Western Speleological Survey, claimed in his 1983 pamphlet Ape Cave and the Mount Saint Helens Apes that the miner's assailants were actually local youths. Until the eruption of Mt. St. Helens counselors from the YMCA

YMCA

The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...

's Camp Meehan on nearby Spirit Lake

Spirit Lake (Washington)

Spirit Lake is a lake north of Mount St. Helens in Washington State. The lake was a popular tourist destination for many years until the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. With the eruption and resulting megatsunami, thousands of trees were torn from the surrounding hillside after lake water was...

 brought hikers to the canyon's edge and related a tradition that the 1924 incident was actually the result of young campers throwing light pumice

Pumice

Pumice is a textural term for a volcanic rock that is a solidified frothy lava typically created when super-heated, highly pressurized rock is violently ejected from a volcano. It can be formed when lava and water are mixed. This unusual formation is due to the simultaneous actions of rapid...

stones into the canyon, not realizing there were miners at the bottom. Looking up the miners would have only seen dark moonlit figures throwing stones at their cabin. The narrow walls of the canyon would have served to distort the voices of the YMCA campers enough to frighten the men below.
There was another mysterious incident in Ape Canyon that took place in 1950. It involved world ski champion Jim Carter who disappeared while on a ski trip in the canyon. He was with some companions and had then gone off by himself to take some photos. Only his camera case was ever found. Searchers reported finding his ski tracks in the snow. Carter had apparently taken off at an incredible rate of speed performing jumps and maneuvers that no skier would have taken unless he was very frightened or being pursued. One of the searchers reported an eerie feeling that he was being "watched" the whole time. Carter's disappearance is a mystery to this day.