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RV Life Season 2

A first for us was a first for Montana

Nicole Anderson

• 8 min read
A first for us was a first for Montana

After a long five months of travel from New England to all sides of the country, we finally made it to the state of Montana, where we'd be kicking off our summer. Glacier National Park was the big dot on our itinerary, but scooting straight there would be a disservice to this state. It's just too beautiful to rush through, with its mountains, rivers, farmland, meadows, and adorable country towns. We had one of our most scenic travel days crossing from Idaho into Montana on our way up to our first camping spot, Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park.

Montana State Park campgrounds run first-come, first-served until peak season, which wouldn't be happening until about a week after we visited. We tried our luck finding an available site for our rig and ended up having plenty to choose from. The campground is set up in loops that we call "wagon wheel loops," meaning the sites dot the outside of each loop like spokes, and there is a common grassy area in the middle of the "wheel." It's a great setup that we've only seen a couple times before, but it allows rigs to back into their sites without blocking the campground roads. At Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, some loops had electric hookups and others were non-electric. With our new solar setup, we didn't need to worry anymore about grabbing an electric site, but it turns out we had our pick of pretty much any loop. We drove through the campground and ultimately decided that loop C looked the best situated for us. It was in the back of the campground and close to a couple of hiking trailheads. The loop didn't have electric, which was A-OK with us! Our site, C7, backed up towards a gorgeous view of the mountains. We also had a spacious grassy area on our pleasure side, complete with a picnic table and firepit. We looked forward to the nice spring weather, so we could put down our patio. Those views out the back were some of our best so far.

It's a good life when boring work days can include views like this, but we were itching to explore for at least one day during our few at Lewis and Clark. You probably noticed "caverns" in the title. That's because the park is home to a fascinating cave system that actually runs vertically on a mountain, as opposed to length-wise like most other caves. We really wanted to take a cave tour, but when we went onto the State Parks website to book our tickets, we saw a notice that the tours wouldn't be running until the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend. It was confusing because we had also read that the tours run from "May through September," but perhaps the winter really did them in like in so many other places, and the caves were opening later this year.

The good thing about RV life is that a missed opportunity isn't a missed opportunity forever. We'd be passing back through Montana on our way back from Glacier, so perhaps we could stop in and take a cave tour then. Instead, we set our sights on our first Montana hike. It was time to start getting Glacier-ready with some warmup hikes.

On our last afternoon at Lewis and Clark, we packed up our gear - bear spray included - and walked over to the trailhead for the Fishing Access Trail. All the trails in the state park are connected, so we were able to choose our own path. We decided to take the Fishing Access Trail over to the Cave Gulch Trail. The Fishing Access Trail also leads to the banks of the Jefferson River, hence the "fishing access," but we were heading up the mountain. The rolling hills on our way up made us feel like we were in the Sound of Music - and I say that as someone who has actually been to Salzburg, Austria. It was idyllic, getting to wander among the lush greenery and plants...including cacti. In Montana. Who knew?

We branched off the river-bound trail and instead took the Cave Gulch Trail over to a spur that led to the Danmore Gypsum Mine, a manmade mine that sounded cool, but in reality wasn't worth the extra .4 miles. Then we continued up Cave Gulch to a series of switchbacks that never seemed to end, but finally we had trekked our way up to the upper visitor center, aka the Cave Visitor Center. We stopped to take a break before making our way back down the other side - the Eastside and Middle View Trails. The upper visitor center area was awesome. There was the visitor/information center itself, a café, and a gift shop. There was also the ticket booth for the cave tours...but wait. Someone was in the booth, and the window was open. Were the cave tours running?! We went over to the lady to get some clarification. Yes, the cave tours were running, but the online reservations wouldn't become active until May 26. So there we were, on our final day at the state park, trying to figure out if we could squeeze in a cave tour. It was about 2:25PM and still that day was a Paradise Tour at 2:30, which was the shorter, more family-friendly tour, and a Classic Tour at 3PM, which was a little longer and would entail climbing another 400ft up to the cave entrance. We had already come nearly 3 miles, so what's one more climb? We asked the ticket booth lady if there was anywhere we could leave our hiking gear if we took the tour, and she generously offered to keep our stuff safe in the booth.

We went and grabbed a quick lunch in the café while we waited for 3PM to roll around. I also bought a long-sleeved shirt at the gift shop because I was not prepared for 48-degree cave temperatures. Then we met our guide Bill and our fellow spelunkers and headed up the mountain.

We seem to be frequenting a fair amount of caves during our RV travels. Some have been amazing, while others have been a major whomp. This cave tour, however, might be our favorite so far. We had a fantastic group who knew a surprising amount of cave trivia. Our guide Bill was also extremely knowledgeable and clearly passionate about the history and geology of the cave system. Before even entering the cave, we were told the incredible story of how this state park and cave system came to be. We learned that back when Lewis and Clark made their expedition to this area, they hadn't discovered the caverns. It wasn't until years later that two elk hunters saw mist in the distance and wondered where it was coming from. It was the condensation from the warm cave as it reached the cold winter air outside. The caverns became a lucrative venture during the Great Depression. We also learned that, before it was a state park, Lewis and Clark Caverns was owned by the federal government and was part of Yellowstone, despite Yellowstone being 150 miles away. The state of Montana was planning to develop a state parks system and asked to buy the land from the government. This was how Lewis and Clark Caverns became Montana's first state park.

Once inside the cave, we were able to see beautiful limestone formations as we covered about 2 miles - and remember, these were mostly vertical miles, descending stairs also made of limestone. Nice touch. We also saw more unique features such as the "lake" of water in the Garden of the Gods and the "cave popcorn" that forms when the water slowly seeps into the rock. We also encountered the "slide," which is exactly what you think it is. Let's just say, we were warned ahead of time that our butts might get a little damp.

I think psychologically, sometimes excursions can seem more fun when they're a surprise. We didn't think we'd be able to do a cave tour, so when we realized we actually could, the whole tour became extra special. Granted, it probably would have been great either way, but we were beaming off the coincidence of the situation. Had we not hiked that day, we would have had no clue that we could have just driven up to the Cave Visitor Center and booked a tour.

Once back in the daylight, Bill let us into the booth, now closed for the day, to grab our stuff, and we spent a few minutes chatting with him about his life before he became a guide. A consummate outdoorsman, he found his way into retirement by volunteering at Rocky Mountain National Park, and then later working two days a week offering tours here at the caverns. We grabbed our gear and said bye to Bill and all the other rangers and workers who were closing the gate to the visitor center lot, and we made our way over to the East Side Trailhead, which would bring us to the juncture with our primary trail down, the Middle View Trail. This trail took us along a ridge and gave us outstanding views of the mountains as well as the campground. We got to see Buggy from above, sitting happily in his luxurious, grassy campsite. On the last leg of our hike, we took the other end of the Danmore Gypsum Mine Trail, which brought us back to the campground.

We went into the hike expecting to cover somewhere between 5-6 miles, and instead clocked nearly a 9-mile excursion, partially underground. What an epic way to end our stay at our first Montana campground. Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park set a high bar, but we weren't worried. We had a lot of faith in the state of Montana to deliver us immeasurable beauty, and we couldn't wait to see more.

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