Lewis & Clark Caverns, MT

The ultimate camping trip was the Lewis and Clark expedition.
—Dave Barry

Whitehall, MT • July 10-12, 2018

We took the 6:30 – 8:30 pm tour of the caverns the day we arrived. We’ve found from past tour experience that the last one of the day is the least crowded. There were only one young couple besides us. Earlier groups in the day were 32 people at a time. We hiked up to the cave while the tour as guide waled backward and talked. Inside the cave were a lot of stairs (500 steps). There were some hard to squeeze through sections and even one place where you either had to crab walk or slide on your bottom while ducking your head to keep from banging it. The tour guide was a 70 year old man who told corny jokes the whole time. He actually told one that was funny…. ‘Did you know that the tooth brush was invented in the Ozarks? That is why it is called a tooth brush instead of a teeth brush!’ When Dave asked why there was so little bat guano in the cave the guide said ‘Oh, we’ve trained them to poop outside. We have very clean bats!’ It was quite an adventure and very different than other caverns that we’ve toured.

The next day we hiked up to the cavern entrance. It was 4.7 mile trail round trip. The day before we drove the windy, steep road there. Dave is pointing to our trailer in the valley below… almost back!! This trail was a challenge for me and steeper than I usually try. I’ve decided that I need two trekking sticks to help keep my feet from sliding out from under me in the gravel on the way down from this kind of hike!