Cheese Cave Explained

Cheese Cave
Location:Trout Lake, WA
Length:2060feet
Discovery:1894
Difficulty:easy
Access:Public

Cheese Cave is a lava tube located in Gifford Pinchot National Forest just southwest of Trout Lake, Washington. It is approximately 2060feet in length, with a mostly flat floor 25feet wide and a 45feet to 60feet high ceiling.

Official reports cite the cave as being discovered in 1894 by Joseph Aerni,[1] a local resident. The cave was first used for storing potatoes and, later, cheese. Homer Spencer established the Guler Cheese Co., which used the cave's constant 42°F to 44°F passage to age its cheese. The cheese company is now gone, but remnants of storage racks remain toward the north end of the cave.[2]

Cheese Cave's natural entrance is located 246feet from the north end of the tube. The north cave entrance is in private property and has a building over the sinkhole. There is a steel staircase from the inside of the private building down to a small rock pile on the cave floor.

Toward the north end of the cave, remnants of wooden racks can be seen.

The man-made south entrance is covered by a low pavilion structure and It has a permanently placed ladder descending to a debris pile. The debris pile can be descended on foot, landing on a flat and clear cinder floor. The main length of the cave is mostly clear with occasional piles of fallen rock.

References

45.9879°N -121.5504°W

Notes and References

  1. Book: Halliday, William R.. Caves of Washington. 1963. Washington Department of Conservation. 31–34.
  2. Web site: Parr. T. Trout Lake Cheese Caves. https://web.archive.org/web/20170909105540/http://www.pnwcheese.com/2011/05/trout-lake-cheese-caves.html. dead. 9 September 2017. Pacific Northwest Cheese Project. 7 January 2014.