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Cheese Cave

Coordinates: 45°59′16.6″N 121°33′1.5″W / 45.987944°N 121.550417°W / 45.987944; -121.550417
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cheese Cave
LocationTrout Lake, WA
Length2,060 feet (628 m)
Discovery1894
Difficultyeasy
AccessPublic

Cheese Cave is a lava tube located in Gifford Pinchot National Forest just southwest of Trout Lake, Washington. It is approximately 2,060 feet (628 m) in length, with a mostly flat floor 25 feet (8 m) wide and a 45 feet (14 m) to 60 feet (18 m) 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 (6 °C) to 44 °F (7 °C) 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 246 feet (75 m) 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.[2]

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

[edit]
  1. ^ Halliday, William R. (1963). Caves of Washington. Washington Department of Conservation. pp. 31–34.
  2. ^ a b Parr, T. "Trout Lake Cheese Caves". Pacific Northwest Cheese Project. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2014.

45°59′16.6″N 121°33′1.5″W / 45.987944°N 121.550417°W / 45.987944; -121.550417