Take a break from Yellowstone's geysers, and tour the cavern in Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park near Three Forks, Montana. From West Yellowstone, Montana drive 81 miles north on route 191 beside the rushing Gallatin River to Interstate 90. Continue 24 miles west on I90. Take Exit 274 and travel west 16 miles on State Route 2 to the park entrance. The cavern visitor center is located three miles up a winding road from the park entrance.
A Bit of History
A few miles northeast of Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park at Missouri Headwaters State Park the Gallatin, Madison and Jefferson rivers join to form the Missouri River. Captains Lewis and Clark arrived at the Missouri's headwaters in 1805. Faced with the three rivers, which they named, they chose to follow the Jefferson River in their quest for a water route to the Pacific Ocean. While the captains and their men did not visit the site of the cavern, they did pass by it along the Jefferson River.
Hike to the Mouth of the Cavern
After you pay for the tour, you must hike 3/4 mile up Cave Mountain to the cavern entrance, a dark hole in the mountainside. On the heart-thumping hike, stop to catch your breath and enjoy the views of surrounding mountains and the lazy stretch of the Jefferson River far below. A guide will meet you at the entrance.
On the Tour
The two-hour, two-mile tours-offered May 1 to September 30-require visitors to have full mobility: able to bend, stoop, scoot and squeeze. The cavern has not been rearranged to accommodate tourists. Visitors must accommodate the cavern, which soon separates the spuds (couch potatoes) from the spelunkers. You have to crab walk through one low spot.
"Having been in most major caverns in the United States," says one visitor, "I find it [L & C Caverns] interesting to walk through because of the tight and low passages in some spots."
On the tour, visitors will descend 600 steps and 330 feet from the entrance to the lowest point. The diagonal passage, rather than horizontal as in most caverns, sets this cavern apart from others.
The cave's calcite formations stimulate the imagination. You"ll see Santa and his sleigh and reindeer, Willie the Whale, Sumo wrestlers and Bigfoot's footprint among other named formations. Stalagmites and stalactites meet and form columns, like bony fingers propping up the ceiling. Groups of stalagmites look like ghostly gatherings. Others become Christmas trees, tiered wedding cakes, ice cream cones and leaning towers.
You may also see some bats, which are protected in the park.
When you emerge into daylight at the base of Cave Mountain, you will be level with the parking lot.
Pamela Crowe - Pamela Crowe
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