Trifter

Spelunking means to to explore caves and caverns; and there are several caves around the Trout Lake, Washington area located in Klickitat county and in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Take the N. 88 Freeway to Hood River Oregon and cross the singing bridge over the mighty Columbia River. Turn left on to highway 14 and travel about three miles and turn right onto Underwood Cut off, travel six miles to Highway 141. It is twenty five miles to Trout Lake, Washington. Trout Lake sits at the base of Mt. Adams known by the Native Americans as Patoe, it is a small dairy community surrounded by Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The town has a small grocery store, a couple of restrurants and gas stations, a tavern, two churches, a post office and a Forest Service compound and the Trout Lake school grades K-12. Back in the 1930’s in had a box factory and three saw mills, a furniture factory and a cheese and butter factory and creamery. The depression years caused many young men and women to leave their family farms and go to the cities for work. In the mid 1960’s the remaining sawmill owned by Harold Hollenbeck was sold to a larger company SDS lumber company located in White Salmon, Washington. Trout Lake has a lake that is great for trout fishing and in winter ice skating but it is weed infested and has been many years since it was dredged or cleaned. It is a also a logging community but since the 1980’s and the Spotted Owl bill. Logging has been curbed considerabley. Now it is mostly a dairy community and tourist town.

The community has a lot of recreational places to go and explore; among them is the thrill of spelunking. It sports several large caves in the area as well as many smaller ones. At some time a large mountain known as Mount Lemeii erupted and exploded spilling lava down its surface and created the honeycomb of caves in the area. Four of the well known caves are the Cheese cave which Dean Enterprises had at one time attempted to build an A frame museum over but the plan failed and the cave sits on private land. Tourists can visit by contacting the Dean family in White Salmon, Washington. The cave is a deep cave and has a metal ladder and walk ways going over 400 feet down into its depth. It is over a mile long and does have branches that go off the side that few have explored that go for miles.

The dairy farmers in the 1920’s through the 1940’s would store cheese made at the Trout Lake cheese factory and creamery in this cave in wood boxes. In 1958 my dad and uncle were hired by Dean Enterprises to clean all the old cheese out of the cave. Many of the boxes had rotted and cheese had spilled out onto the cave floor. They hauled 36 loads of old, rotten smelly cheese out of the cave and The dean family then replaced the old wood ladders with the metal grids and built the A frame house over the cave. However by 1962 the plan fell through with the death of the patriach of the Dean family. Now the A frame mostly sits locked up except for special planned tours. Another cave located on SDS lumber company land is known as the butter caves and is more accessible. This is where the dairy farmers stored butter for safe keeping. It is a smaller cave and only about a quarter of a mile long and does have an exit but anyone of large girth is advised not to try and go out the other end. We had a friend once who got stuck in the opening and it took a lot of pushing and pulling to free him. Along the same road as the Cheese Cave is what is known by some as the Meat Cave and by others as the Greenery Cave. In the 1930’s the dairy men and beef cattlemen of the area would hang meat in this cave but found it was not always safe from bears and other carnivores. In the 1950’s my dad got permission from the owner of the land surrounding this cave to store fern for florist shops, and Christmas trees and other greenery in it for re-sale. Thus some called it the Greenry cave and he did this for about ten years.

On up highway 141 as you go deeper into Gifford Pinchot forest land you will pass a small dusty road that will take you into what some call the Basement Cave it has two levels and there are a few other smaller caves surrounding this cave including the Bat Cave. The Bat Cave has thousands and thousands of bats clinging to the ceiling and walls and if disturbed fly and screech around the intruders heads. We then travel another five miles and another forest service road turns off to the Ice Caves. These caves are the ones most frequently visited by tourists. They are maintained by the US Forest Service with sturdy metal runged ladders and lighted well. They go underground for about five miles and are interesting and have many old ice glaciers hanging from the ceiling or along the floor. The ice sparkles and shimmers and has many colors according to how old it is and deep. It is cold all year round so you will want to wear sturdy shoes and take a flashlight and jacket. A guide will help lead you through the caves. Offshoots of the cave are blocked off to prevent people from wandering into them and getting lost. There are other caves not so well known in the area. Some vast and some small.

One famous cave now on private land sits back away from the former Trout Lake dump along an abandoned dirt road. It is known as Coyota’s Cave and woven into the Native American tales. Coyote being a mischief maker god it is believed this was his dwelling place and some say it is haunted. It is rumored that only an American Indian can go in to this cave and come out well and alive. Seventeen white men were known to have gone in over the years from the 1890’s to the 1950’s and they were never found or came out. Finally the cave was closed off to the public for this reason. However I and I dad have been in this cave and it is vast and dry and very large and honeycombs into many branches and my dad and uncle said it goes for over thirty miles on some branches. Of course we are part Native American. So if you love spelunking this is a place to check out. Look up the Dean family in White Salmon, Washington to see the Cheese cave as for the others stop by the local Forest Service compound for maps and legends where to find the various caves for a great spelunking adventure.