BOU AVENUE
Lewis & Clark Caverns
Zosia Zgolak and I paid a visit to Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park on 19 July 2019.  The park is located along State Highway 2 in south-central Montana about 66 kilometres east of Butte or 97 kilometres west of Bozeman.  While the park boasts of other activities such as camping and hiking, its main attraction is, of course, its namesake limestone caverns.  The caverns can only be visited via a guided tour ($12 USD per person for the Classic Cavern Tour plus $6 USD parking fee).  Our tour group of about 15 people or so started with a quick briefing by our guide followed by an easy climb up a paved trail to the entrance.  Here, we were given further instructions (eg. no food, no touching of cave formations, no flash photography in areas with bats) before entering the caverns.  For the next 90 minutes, our guide took us on a fascinating journey through various passageways and rooms, and along the way, we learned about the geology of the caverns as well as the history of their discovery and subsequent development.  At tour's end, we exited the caverns at a lower point on the mountainside and easily walked back to the parking lot on a separate paved trail.  Overall, I thought the guided tour was excellent and well-worth the price of admission, and I highly recommend a visit to Lewis & Clark Caverns.
Both entrances are man-made and not the one that was originally discovered. In this view from the parking lot, the entrance (A) and exit (B) for Lewis & Clark Caverns are marked.  The entrance is about 75 metres higher than the exit.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
To the Bat Cave! A sign beside the entrance reads, "Please keep voices at a whisper for the bats!"

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
Shhhhhh!! Zosia and other tourists observe bats hanging from the cave ceiling.
Skateboarders would love these railings! Zosia is clearly excited about descending deeper into the caverns.
Hey, I think we're spelunking now! Sonny has to sit and slide down a tight passageway.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
Looks kinda like a bishop...or IG-88! Here are some examples of stalagmites.
I think the one on the right is a butterscotch sundae! The Cathedral Room is one of the larger caverns.  Note the toppled speleothem (cave formation) at bottom centre.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... A lone bat hangs upside-down from the ceiling of a passageway in the caverns.
I guess they could have tossed worse things into the water... Tourists from long ago used to toss copper pennies into Crystal Pool which apparently resulted in the unfortunate green tinge in the water.
Looks like strawberry flavoured... The lighting in the Paradise Room has been specially altered to enhance the natural colours of the speleothems (ie. this is how they would look under normal sunlight).
That was a lot of fun! Zosia emerges from the exit tunnel at the conclusion of the tour.