Layser Cave

The short Layser Cave interpretive trail is a quick detour off the main route south of Randle that transports visitors into the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The trail takes just a half-hour to hike and provides a nice immersion into the human history of the area.

The trailhead is inconspicuous at a curve in the road about 1.6 miles in from Forest Road 23. The trail drops down gently, via a set of wooden stairs that lead to a rolling trail through ferns. It's an eighth of a mile before you reach a view of the Cispus Valley and Mount Adams as well as the Dark Divide peaks: Tongue Mountain and Juniper Ridge.

Past the viewpoint, the trail slopes slightly upward to the caves entrance, where an interpretive sign indicates that Native Americans hunted deer and elk, driving them into a box canyon. Rediscovered by Tim Layser in 1982, it is one of the most extensive archaeological sites in this part of the state.

The cavern itself is small -- just 40 feet by 60 feet. Let other visitors explore if you're here with other visitors. And of course, be sure to pack out everything you pack in.

Obsidian arrowheads from Oregon hint at evidence of trade and early human migration, and animal bones and stone tools found in the cave have allowed archeologists to trace human presence here back nearly 7,000 years.