Tom and Suzanne's Travels: Visiting the Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park

It was going to be a day without rain so we decided to make the ride to Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park. Known as the most colorful caverns in the Northwest. We really enjoyed the ride over to the park and saw a bridge in the middle of a field. Later we found out that it was moved there to be used as a stage for concerts that are held in the field.

We took the tour of the caverns and really enjoyed the 2 hours it took to complete. The caverns are really beautiful and you spend over an hour inside. You go down over 600 steps and the temperature is around 50. There are also big eared bats hanging down, not to worry there are only about 50 of them in the caverns, and we only saw 2.
Here is some history on the caverns ---
Before handing the caverns over to Montana, the federal government agreed to make improvements. The work began in 1935 with the arrival of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a federal public works program that set up camp at LaHood, just a few miles up the Jefferson from the caverns. The industrious CCC crews turned the caverns into what visitors see today. They built roads and a visitor center, widened passages, and chiseled steps into limestone. They laid electric cable to power a new system of lights. And they hauled out tons of bat guano. They also explored the caverns more fully, discovering the remarkable Paradise Room, where they blasted a 538-foot exit tunnel so visitors could make a one-way tour of the caverns and not have to climb the long stairs back to the entrance.
After World War II, the state began its own improvements, such as tearing down Morrison’s wooden steps, including a rickety spiral staircase that yawed as much as 2 feet while suspending visitors over a 90-foot drop. A short railroad was built from the visitor’s center to the caverns, where tourists then took a tram car up the last several hundred feet of nearly vertical ascent, its clacking and groaning adding to the excitement of seeing the caves.
By the early 1970s, the train and tram were deemed unsafe and removed. Today, all visitors must take a short hike to reach the cave entrance, where the guided tours begin. It’s understandable that most people are in a hurry to see the caverns. But it’s best not to rush. The walk up a moderately steep path to the cave mouth is a fascinating journey in its own right.