Lewis and Clark Caverns, Whitehall, Montana

Friday, Sept 22nd 

We woke about 5 am to blustery winds and heavy rain. I guess we are below 4500 feet. Once it got light we did see new snow a few hundred feet up the mountains surrounding us. Temps stayed at 3C on the valley floor, hence the rain. Weather news for Montana and Hwy 2 was talking about heavy snow so I guess we made the right decision. Tonight is calling for flurries of snow down here in the Valley but Saturday is mostly sun from then on.

This is a lovely campsite with lots of space between campers.

The cave is somewhere in the top left corner.

Ray woke up in terrific pain after such a long day yesterday. We are having a "day off" today. It is not nice out anyways. With 50 amp power, I can bake, cook and generally turn on everything I want for the first time since we left Surrey. It was cold and rainy all day until late afternoon. As  it's an inside day anyways, I put on my "Suzy homemaker" apron and served up Eggs Benedict for breakfast and Beef Bourguignon for dinner. In between I made a batch of cookies for Ray. (This also included doing 2 batches of dirty dishes!) Kept me quite busy until supper.

Apparently this valley is in the rain/snow shadow of the Rockies and only gets minimal snow all year. A desert in itself more or less.

View from our campsite Saturday morning with snow on hilltops.

The Jefferson River Valley. Train operated by Washington Marine Group.

Saturday, Sept 23rd 

Up at 6am and noticed right away that it was a bit warmer this morning, about 4C or 39F. The weather today is supposed to be cloudy with sunny periods so we will go up to the caverns for the tour. A 1/2 mile walk to the caverns would not have been very nice yesterday in the rain/snow if Ray could have even done it.

Out the door at 9:45 am to go up the mountain to the cave. They told us yesterday the trail was completely muddy with snow and rain all day so it was a good thing we postponed our trip until today. The road up the mountain is very windy, climbing 1000 feet in 3 miles to the Visitors Centre.

The Slow to 20 signs abound

We opted for the Paradise Room tour which takes you in through the exit. This is a shorter tour for people with physical limitations. You walk a 1/2 mile level path into the entrance of the biggest and most prominent room in the cavern, walking into the entrance tunnel of over 500 feet and then about half an hour spent in the Cave while the tour guide gives you an informative narrative. Back out the same way you went in through the tunnel and back the 1/2 mile trek back to the visitor centre. Ray's not up for "waddling or sliding or bending" of the other tours.

Here's a description of the "standard tour" which Ray couldn't manage:

Take our standard cave tour to experience these spectacular caverns lined with stalactites, stalagmites, columns and helictites. The tour begins with a 1-mile gradual uphill walk to the cave entrance. The route inside the cave is lighted for a safe and enjoyable visit, and the caves are naturally air-conditioned. Kids especially have fun on the tour's famous Beaver Slide and enjoy the occasional bat sighting. The tour includes 600 steps and involves ducking, waddling, bending and sliding as you make your way through the cavern.

These caves are quite small in comparison to the Carlsbad Caverns we saw last year, but still very interesting. There is also quite a bit of damage from unregulated tourism in the 20's through the 30's with many of the stalactites and stalagmites broken or touched/ruined from humans or the blast to open up the access cave we entered through.

Waiting area for the tour.

Entrance to the Caves

500 plus foot manmade tunnel to the entrance of the Paradise Room

 They have a double door system to get into the cave as if you opened only one door the wind would get up to almost 50 mph from the top of the cave and dry out the cave in under 15 minutes and it would take a year for the formations to start growing again.

Cave bacon with blast damage

Cave baseball bat, unusal in that it was smooth.

Example of Cave Columns

Cave Columns

Cave Flowstones

Flowstone up close

Cave flowstones

"Froggy" This was one of the stalagmites that people were encouraged to touch in earlier times and because of the oil off their hands it became shiny and never grew any more. This is why they do not want you to touch any of the cave features.

Helictite where the water pushes underneath the formation but never rises to the surface.

Next pictures are of the actual Paradise Room

Cave popcorn and flowstones

Cave Soda Straws

"Totem Pole"

Actual travertine steps.

The original trail up to the caverns.

Saw these guys on the drive back down the mountain.

 Looking out at the Jefferson River Valley

Back home for lunch and spent the rest of the day relaxing. Pretty cool outside to sit.