lewis and clark caverns state park

If you enjoy moderate adventure and are not claustrophobic, this is a great way for the family to enjoy an outing. The Lewis and Clark caverns are open to candle-lantern lit ranger led tours on limited occasions in the winter. The tour is led by experienced rangers who are knowledgeable about history and geology. You get spectacular views of natural phenomena, seen in the way the caves were originally seen - by hand-held candle-lit lanterns made by local high schoolers.

Christmas is a beautiful time to visit the Lewis and Clark Caverns. The Caverns are only open a short time in December. Reservation are taken shortly after Thanksgiving and sell out very quickly. Before the tour begins everyone meets at the Visitors Center at the base of the trail head.The Visitor Center provided hot chocolate, coffee, tea and a nice assortment of cookies. The tour is limited to 20 people. You should be in decent shape to walk the vertical snow covered trail to the Cavern Entrance. Once inside the Caverns there are many low rock formation and tunnels to pass through. The tour guide met us at the Cavern Entrance. Through out the tour our guide told us many informative and interesting items about rock formations inside of each chamber as well as the history of its discovery.The Caverns are truly amazing. The first part of the tour makes use electric lights, while the second half used candle lit lanterns. It was beautiful seeing a narrow line of lanterns snaking through the darkened caverns. My family has decided to make Christmas At The Caverns an annual event.

My girlfriend and I were lucky enough to get tickets for this limited event held during the Christmas season. The visitor center had hot chocolate, coffee, tea and cookies! The tour is guided and you need to be in reasonable shape to walk to the cave entrance. Once inside its incredible! Be advised there are low tunnels and tight quarters. Having said that this is an amazing adventure! The formations are amazing! The second half of the tour is in candle light. It ends in the Paradise Room with Christmas Carols playing and Christmas lights on the formations! A wonderful 2 hour adventure! format in a

Our group was able to go on one of the special candlelight tours they have in December. The weather was a little cold, but everyone was prepared and it wasn't a problem. The hike to the cave entrance can be slightly challenging, but well worth the walk. If you think you will need extra time to hike up to the cavern entrance, ask the guide if you can leave a little early. They have benches along the way to rest and the scenery on the hike is great. The candlelight tour begins just like the others once inside the caverns. The cave has lights to allow you to walk through. There are some low spots, a place to sit on your butt and slide and narrow stairs, but if you are a little adventurous, you will make it. The inside of the cavern is very cool and a sight not to be missed. The second half of the candlelight tour is done in the dark with only candles for light. It gives a great historical aspect to the cave tour. Don't miss this stop if you are in the area.

There's quite the hike at the beginning of this to make it up the mountain to the entrance to the caverns, but it's so worth it if you are able! We hiked this is hot summer heat and the guides let everyone go at their own pace and met everyone at the entrance. You basically start at the top of the cavern once you get there and then go down throughout the tour. The last room is one of the most beautiful caverns I've seen and I've been in many caves and caverns. We're very glad we decided to stop here!

Camped in the park and took the guided tour thru the caves. A gentle walk for 15-minutes gets you to the start of underground adventure. First visit to a limestone cavern for us so the small group was great. Lts of photo ops and interesting features in the aprox 1-hr walk thru the cave.

Spend the night--not in the caves, but in the campground down the hill. We made this our stopover between Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park, and we are so glad we did. The campground was very nice and the caves are amazing. The bathrooms/showers are a bit dated, but clean. Sites are level and well spaced out. You camp in the valley. The Visitors Center is a short walk away, and the caves are a 3 mile drive up the mountain. The guided tour of the caves was excellent. This would be a great activity for school aged children. You hike about 3/4 mile up the mountain to the cave entrance, but the tour guide paces the group well. There is one point where you must slide on your butt down a small chute--makes you feel like a kid again! There are a number of stars, but nothing too hard to navigate. The caves are jaw dropping--bring your camera!

This was an excellent tour, and really good value for money. As the photos show the caves are impressive. You can't get the scale of them from the photo's, I was surprised how big and intricate they are. You must stop at the building at the park gate and pay the park entrance fee, then buy a tour ticket when you get to the caves. Ignore any reference to this tour being physically demanding. A guy on our tour did it with a broken foot in a cast. The walk up to the cave is easy. Let me put it this way...if you can waddle around an outlet mall for 3 hours, you can do this tour. Personally, I wouldn't do this tour with very young children (under 5yrs), or do it while carrying a baby.Note it is about a half hour detour off the main highway, but you can get back to the highway without double backing, the road loops back up, so the total detour driving time is under an hour. The scenery in the park outside the caves is very nice too, so bring your landscape lens.

There is a 300ft. elevation change in 3/4 mile to the cave entrance. For some it might be a little strenuous. An of course, then you have to go down the 300ft. to exit the cave. It is an amazingly beautiful place inside. Our tour guide was very informative. We really like this place, and would recommend it to others.

We had a good time; it probably would have been a better time if we hadn't been shamed by our tour guide for leaving our dogs in our car. I'm sure he meant well, but we didn't appreciate his comments especially in front of the entire tour group. Our dogs were totally fine in the car, and while I appreciate that they have free kennels available, one of our dogs does not do well in a kennel and she would have had a complete meltdown. Just none of his business, and he wouldn't let it go saying "well, we just care about our animals here" which seemed to insinuate that we didn't care about our own dogs. After that shame session, the trip was fine. The caverns were very beautiful, but I prefer the more natural experience without all the lights, electrical boxes, and other alterations to the cave. I do think it's great that they've made the caves so easily accessible for so many people, but I've been to other caves that I found more exciting and adventurous! I've been to some where you have to wear a hard hat and carry a flashlight while picking your way slowly through the cave. If you're looking for a thrill, this isn't it. Also regarding the "hike," it's really not bad. Don't let other reviewers scare you away. It took maybe 20 minutes to get to the entrance.

Fifty plus...we enjoyed it! The views are sensational. Allow at least two hours and bring a jacket. Come with a sense of humor.

I have some physical limitations and this stretched my abilities. There is a long uphill hike (for someone like me) from the parking lot to the cave entrance and a long (level) hike back, not to mention all the stairs inside and the bending over to get through low ceilings and narrow gaps. But it isn't a Great Vacation if you didn't almost die at least once. You have plenty of opportunities to turn back, before going in the cave and there are benches on the way and there are points of interest, etc. to pretend to admire while you catch your breath. Take water, take water, take water especially if it's a warm day. I have a water sack I can clip to my belt so I don't have to carry it in my hand. You will need both your hands free ... and pants you can slide on.The inside of the cave is interesting and there are bats, which we haven't been able to see in other caves we've visited because of timing and the spread of white nose. This will give you a real cave experience. The spiel is a combination of history and geology and after the first few minutes the falling cadence of the guide's chatter became less noticeable. I was very proud that I survived this. We had a nice sandwich at the shop afterwards and the bathrooms are nice. The info center at the bottom of the hill looks brand new.

Been driving by for years and we finally stopped! So glad we did! It's a steep hike up to the caverns but the guide let the people who needed to rest do so, we were late so rushed to catch up and forgot water, would have been nice as it was a hot afternoon! Be prepared to walk stooped over, slide on your bum and squeeze through tight places! You are way more up close and personal with the cavern formations than in any other caves we have been to, may not be as pretty as some caverns but well worth the stop!

our vacation was ending and we were on our way back to Belgrade Montana for our flight home when we stumbled onto lewis and clark caverns. it turned out, our family had a great time exploring the caverns with a great guide, Jim. way to go Jim, you did a great job and made our tour very enjoyable.

The 3/4 mile hike up is steep. Take water. Inside the caves it immediately gets much cooler. Descending into the caves can be very intimidating if you're afraid of heights. Lots of stairs. Be prepared to duck walk, crawl, bend, stoop, butt slide, climb, and squeeze through tight spaces. But, it's worth it. The cave formations are lit so beautifully that every picture is a Facebook cover photo. My nine year old loved the entire tour.