If Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park was on your summer bucket list but you missed your chance for a tour, the park has an unusual option for you.
Lewis and Clark Caverns is Montana's first state park but usually can only be enjoyed during the summer months.
That is except for a unique opportunity offered near the end of December.
“This is an opportunity, again to see the caverns in a new light. Part of the tour will be with the lights that you normally see there at the caverns, and then towards the end — the latter half — you get to carry a lantern and see the caverns in the way that they were seen by people who saw them a hundred years ago. And more so, it’s a great opportunity for families,” said Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks spokesman Morgan Jacobsen.
The tour runs from December 20 to December 22 and then again from December 27 until December 29. Tickets have to be reserved online or by phone as no tickets are sold at the caverns. Tickets are $25 for visitors 15 and older and $15 for those 5-14 years old.
The caverns remain about 50° degrees year round but there could be winter conditions on the three to four-mile hike to the entrance, so be prepared.
Visitors are also asked to use care for the caverns full-time residents.
"If you've been to any caves in the past five years make sure you don’t bring anything that you wore or had with you at other caves because we do have hibernating bats at Lewis and Clark Caverns and we're trying to protect them from White-Nose Syndrome that can be spread from different colonies,” Jacobsen noted.
The full tour is a two-mile walk and backpacks or strollers are not allowed.
