| 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.