LEWIS AND CLARK CAVERNS S.P. (MT) ★

MONDAY - Today's 186-mile travel day will include exiting Yellowstone National Park through the North Entrance and the gateway town of Gardiner.

Two years ago we exited and then re-enter Yellowstone National Park through this North Entrance Gate with just ROVER, so we knew what to expect when we decided to "give it a try" with adding THE POD today.

The first 55-miles of the route today was us just trying to get out of Yellowstone National Park. That was followed by traveling US-89 North through rural Montana for another 53-miles before we reached Interstate-90 in Livingston, MT. This is where we filled with gas and ate lunch before heading west on the Interstate for 60-miles.

By the time we left the Interstate we had less than 20-miles to go to reach our destination.

TRAVEL DAY PHOTOS

SLIDE NUMBER
1OF17

Bison will lie down and roll repeatedly onto their sides to stop insects from biting them.
Rolling on the ground also creates a layer of dirt on the body
that forms a defensive barrier from ticks and lice.
SLIDE NUMBER
2OF17

A large field of vegetation in the northwest region of the park.
SLIDE NUMBER
3OF17

This bridge was under repair from the flooding that occured two years ago.
I sure hope they got it fixed properly!
SLIDE NUMBER
4OF17

This is where the road starts heading down towards the town of Mammoth, still in Wyoming.
SLIDE NUMBER
5OF17

After leveling off and passing through Mammoth the road once again begins a steep decent.
SLIDE NUMBER
6OF17

It is along this stretch that you leave Wyoming and cross into the state of Montana.
SLIDE NUMBER
7OF17

Don't let your guard down and think all the tough driving is over with.
SLIDE NUMBER
8OF17

It gets even more difficult when they start throwing obstacles at you in the turns.
SLIDE NUMBER
9OF17

We finally made it to the bottom and there is the Roosevelt Arch, the "original" entrance gate.
SLIDE NUMBER
10OF17

Hey! Look who that is driving through the Roosevelt Arch.
SLIDE NUMBER
11OF17

Now if that crazy lady with the camera will just get out of the road we can proceed on our way.
SLIDE NUMBER
12OF17

Just outside of Gardiner, MT is the Devil's Slide.
SLIDE NUMBER
13OF17

We finally reached Interstate-90 only to find it down to 1-lane due to construction.
We didn't see one single person doing any construction, but we did eventually
catch up to the guy still placing more cones after 11-miles of nothing going on.
SLIDE NUMBER
14OF17

We are in that last 20-mile stretch now and the traffic has all but disappeared.
SLIDE NUMBER
15OF17

The campsites here at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park are huge.
SLIDE NUMBER
16OF17

There is little to no privacy between sites, but no chance of hearing your neighbor snoring.
SLIDE NUMBER
17OF17

And look, we are not the only Airstreamers enjoying this park!

TUESDAY - Just in case there is anyone out there who thinks we are here only for the spacious campsites, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

We are here because they advertise on their website as having "one of the most highly decorated limestone caverns in North America".

I'm sorry, but we'll be the judge of that!

After all, we've got 70 cave tours under our belts and today will make 71.

LEWIS AND CLARK CAVERNS

SLIDE NUMBER
1OF17

The "Cave Tour" starts out with a half mile walk along a gravel path to the entrance.
SLIDE NUMBER
2OF17

Then you arrive at an obviously man-made tunnel blasted into the mountianside.
SLIDE NUMBER
3OF17

A short walk from the outside has you arriving at the first of two airlock doors.
SLIDE NUMBER
4OF17

Once inside the airlock there is a 500-foot long man-made tunnel
that leads to the actual cave entrance and another airlock door.
SLIDE NUMBER
5OF17

Now that we've walked nearly 2/3-mile we finally get to see "The Cave".
SLIDE NUMBER
6OF17

I'll admit this "Entrance Room" was very decorated, but we must have stood still for 15-minutes
while we listened to the Tour Guide explain what we were seeing and how it was formed.
SLIDE NUMBER
7OF17

SLIDE NUMBER
8OF17

SLIDE NUMBER
9OF17

In the 1930s these four stairs were hand carved out of the flowstone on the cave floor.
That would never happen today as there are many laws protecting such destruction.
SLIDE NUMBER
10OF17

In between the two rooms we saw all that remains of a large rat that died in the cave.
SLIDE NUMBER
11OF17

We signed up for the "Paradise Tour" just to see this room, it's named the Paradise Room.
It's by far the most decorated room in the entire cave and made the whole experience worth it.
The longer "Classic Tour" passes with in a few feet of this room and doesn't detour to see it?
SLIDE NUMBER
12OF17

SLIDE NUMBER
13OF17

SLIDE NUMBER
14OF17

SLIDE NUMBER
15OF17

SLIDE NUMBER
16OF17

SLIDE NUMBER
17OF17

These exit stairs from the Paradise Room will be the start of our hike back to the parking lot.

IN CONCLUSION: First about the claim that this is "one of the most highly decorated limestone caverns in North America", NO! Not even close, this cave will not be included in our Top Ten Cave Tours list.

It was a nicely decorated cave and the perfect cave for a first time experience, but that's about all I can say about it.

The "tour" itself spent more time outdoors than in the cave. The first room is about 10-steps inside the final door and the second room is just another 10-yards through a passageway. Calling this a tour is stretching it, I believe calling it a "Cave Experience" would be more accurate.

The tour guide we had today has been working here for 20+ years, so her presentation was very polished. She could answer just about any question put to her about the cave.

The cave tours are a 3.5-mile drive up the mountain from the campground. So we had a chance to stop a few times on the drive back to THE POD and check out the scenery.

Looking for our Visited States Map and Data?
How about our State by State Bucket Lists or Visited Campgrounds List?
If so, click on the sign below to be taken to our other website.

Would you like to be notified of new blog posts?

Labels: