Cavern tours require booking

Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park will require reservations for cave tours during peak season when the 2026 tour schedule starts May 1. (montanarightnow.com) The guided cave season runs daily from May 1 through September 30 at the park near Whitehall, and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks says cave access is by guided tour only. (montanarightnow.com) (fwp.mt.gov) Advance ticket sales are available for prescheduled tours during that May-through-September season, and the state booking page lists the Classic Tour as a roughly three-quarter-mile cave route reached by a three-quarter-mile uphill walk with 300 feet of elevation gain. (montanastateparks.reserveamerica.com) The scheduling change puts one of Montana’s busiest cave attractions on a more formal reservation system as parks agencies lean harder on timed entry, advance sales and capacity controls. (montanarightnow.com) (tennessean.com) At the federal level, the Interior Department announced changes in late 2025 that included revised national park pass artwork, fee updates and free-entry dates for 2026, part of the same push toward more structured visitor management. (tennessean.com) Lewis & Clark Caverns is Montana’s first state park and features one of the largest known limestone caverns in the Northwest, with stalactites, stalagmites, columns and helictites inside the cave system. (fwp.mt.gov) (montanastateparks.reserveamerica.com) The cavern tours are only one part of the park’s operation: Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks also keeps camping, cabins, trails, a visitor center and summer interpretive programs at the site. (fwp.mt.gov) For visitors, the practical change is simple: cave season opens Thursday, May 1, 2026, and peak-season spots now need to be booked before showing up at the trailhead. (montanarightnow.com)