Caves in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest

Just a few hours south of Seattle are some of the best caves to explore in the state. Long lava tubes created by magma flows millions of years ago are scattered throughout the volcanic landscape around Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams, and many of them are perfectly accessible to spelunkers and brave hikers alike!

In addition to these cool caves near Seattle, here are a few of the more popular caves found in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest that you can visit and explore yourself!

4 caves near Mount St. Helens

Ape Cave

Type of cave: lava tube

We’re starting with one of the most accessible caves in the state, as well as one of the longest in the continent!

The Ape Cave is a great example of a primary cave, which is a type of cave that’s created at the same time as the rock around it. Most primary caves are lava tubes, and all lava tubes are primary caves! This particular one was created after Mount St. Helens erupted around 2,000 years ago. 

Lava tubes are created when the top layer of a lava flow cools into a crust. The crust allows the hotter lava below to continue flowing, and eventually the fluid lava melts the ground beneath or is deposited at the end of the tube. What remains is a long tunnel-like cave that can extend for miles toward and away from a mountain. Often times, the only way that these tubes are discovered is when the roof collapses and opens the cave to the air.

You can visit the Ape Cave and explore it to your heart’s content — as long as you refrain from touching the cave structures and damaging any natural formations., of course!

Guler Ice Caves

Type of cave: lava tube

Located within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest just a few miles south of Mount Adams, the Guler Ice Caves provide a fascinating look at a unique phenomenon — year-round ice formations in an old volcanic tunnel!

Though they’re known as ice caves, these caves are actually one section of a series of lava tubes that were created after an eruption back in the Pleistocene Epoch a cool 20,000 years ago. The lava tunnels are long and bury deep underground, allowing them to stay cool and cold, especially if water is present in the tunnel.  

To be considered an ice cave, at least one portion of the cave must stay below freezing (32 °F) year-round. The Guler Ice Caves feature icicles and other ice features year-round, though the structures are more impressive in the spring when water starts to melt into the cave. 

The caves are named after a local farmer named Guler who used the ice caves to store fresh produce. This is the same Guler, by the way, that used the nearby Cheese caves to store their prized cheeses!

Cheese Caves

Type of cave: lava tube

Speaking of cool lava caves, this is another nearby cavern that allowed local farmers to store their produce. 

This section of lava tube stays a cool 42 °F to 44 °F year-round and is around 2,060 feet long, 60 feet high and 25 feet wide, making it a perfect size for, say, storing cheese at optimal aging temperatures. It’s exactly what Homer Spencer, owner of the Guler Cheese Company, thought, too!

If you visit the Cheese Caves today, you can still see a few remaining racks that once held cheese back in the early 20th century. You don’t need a permit or anything to visit (other than the Northwest Forest Pass you’ll need for entering the National Forest), but be sure to take care as you travel down the ladders and through the tunnel nonetheless. It is a cave, after all, no matter how great of a refrigerator it is. 

Layser Cave

Type of cave: pseudokarst

If we were trying to be super technical about what makes a cave a cave, then we couldn’t really call Layser Cave a real cave, as its not created by the dissolution of sediments through chemical processes, it’s not a lava tube, it’s not created by wind and it’s not created by landslides or avalanches.

Layser Cave is unique among its fellow lava tubes in Gifford Pinchot National Forest in that its formation comes as a result of earthquakes and tectonic forces — all long before the other lava tubes were created!

Back in the Miocene Epoch around 20 million years ago, the bedrock in what is now western Washington folded and bent under strong tectonic forces, exposing previously buried pieces of rock to the elements above and creating fissures and cracks in the hard rock. Over time, weather and erosion wore away at those cracks and created a small cave measuring just 40 feet wide and 60 feet long.

Despite its small size, Layser Cave is one of the most archaeologically significant caves in the Pacific Northwest. Archaeologists uncovered evidence of human habitation dating back to at least 7,000 years ago, with artifacts ranging from hunting tools to cooking utensils to rock art, religious items, shelter materials and more!

The artifacts from this not-a-cave cave have helped anthropologists learn valuable information about the Native Americans who called the Gifford Pinchot National Forest home so long ago. 

Not bad from a “fake” cave!

Next time you’re planning a trip down to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest from our luxury Seattle apartments, head south of the mountains and check out these more underground (hah!) attractions! 

Enjoy!

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Featured photo courtesy Pixabay/davidi99