Crawford State Park - State park in Metaline Falls - 10381 Boundary Rd, USA

The Crawford caves are an amazing set of caves, this is a guided tour by reservation only, and you will need a discovery pass to park in the parking lot. We went on the children’s tour at noon and our park. Ranger was very informative and did great with the kids, keeping them engaged and asking them questions, the hike itself is moderate. Temperature drops considerably as you traverse the cave I would bring a jacket you were walking on a combination of metal platforms and dirt, and there are portions that can be slightly slippery. This tour is only available mid May through mid September and you need reservations.

Great gem of a park. Check out the caves but make sure to make a reservation weeks in advance or you might not be able to see them. Sandy the tour guide is the best! Also the restrooms are really good here with crazy water pressure.

Gardner Cave is amazing, highly recommend making reservations as they cannot always accommodate walk-ups for tours. There's not much to the park outside of the caves, although the walk to the border is pretty neat. The rangers were amazing, and we are glad we decided to visit.

Made the drive to tour Gardner Caves. Mosquitoes are pretty thick, so bring repellant. If touring caves, reservations are required in advance.

This place was awesome. We got to go on the Gardner Cave tour and did the hike to the Canadian border. The hike to the Canadian border is only about 30 min round trip and fairly easy. My girls thought it was cool that they could just walk into Canada. The cave tour was the best part of our visit though. It was so cool exploring and hear about all the different details from the park ranger. She did and awesome job at explaining everything and telling the back story of the cave. If you're ever in the area or looking for something to do, I highly recommend this trip. We drove 2 hrs for this and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Geologists, biologists, and history buffs alike will love this little park with Gardner Cave being the main attraction.

It was fun!! The guide, Erika, was very nice and funny. It was awesome experience. It's uphill from the parking lot to the entrance of the cave, and there are lots stairs inside the cave. So, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who might have problem with that.

QUICK VERSION: The cave tour is amazing! I highly recommend going. ANY PICTURE/VIDEO will not come close to the actual experience, go see it for yourselves! You will need to PAY to park unless you have a Discovery Pass. THINGS TO BRING: LED fllashlight, long sleeve shirt or jacket, close-toed shoes, camera- that's it. LESS IS MORE & you can't eat, drink or smoke inside the cave! RECOMMENDATIONS: Make reservations & arrive early. This is an AMAZING learning experience no matter your age! However, if you are claustrophobic or Afraid of the Dark you may want to be one of the last ones to enter the cave. The cave is lighted, but at the end the lights will be turned off for a moment & other forms of light will be used. Use the restroom prior to heading up for the tour. LONG VERSION/COMPLETE REVIEW: What brought me & my family to Crawford State Park was the cave that is located there for which tours are given to the public. The tour is free, but you need to pay to park. You can always just pay the $10 day use fee or for $30 get the Discovery Pass for the year. I highly recommend to make reservations. 25 people can sign up per tour. After going, I feel that 25 is too many... 15 would be optimal. Our group (me, my husband, our almost 4 yr old son, my sister, her husband & their 5yr old and 9yr old daughters & my dad) didn't make reservations. We had to wait 2 hours for the next available tour. This was a little difficult because we didn't pack a lunch (only a few snacks & 1 bottle of water per person) and because we had our young children who became bored after the first hour of waiting. There is limited parking available. The bathrooms are very clean & tidy; though you won't find automatic flushing toilets or other motion sensing amenities. I recommend that you use the bathroom prior to your tour as you won't want to male the hike to the cave twice. There is 1 covered & 7 uncovered picnic tables that I saw. The path that takes you to the cave is paved. However, it is not an easy path. It is a pretty steep incline that zigzags up the hill offering a few chances to sit & rest on the small benches along the path. Once you're at the top, there is an opportunity to get a drink of water from the spicket & to rest at the 1 picnic table provided. With up to 25 people per tour, you will most likely take your rest standing. From the outside, the cave looks like just another hole in the ground. If I came upon it prior to the state putting up the gate around it, there would be a 50/50 chance that I would have looked at it and thought "I wonder if that goes anywhere?" Your tour guide will tell you the story of how it was first discovered, so I won't spoil the that for you, all you need to know is from my point of view; we're pretty lucky to have the chance to explore it. The gate is locked until it is time to head into the cave. A metal staircase will lead you down into the cave. You CANNOT eat, drink or smoke while in the cave & you CANNOT TOUCH the cave walls as it causes wherever you touch to no longer be an active formation! I advise brining a long sleeve shirt or a jacket as the temperature inside the cave is about 39 degrees & flashlights for every member in your party. If you have LED flashlights those would be the ones to bring. Normal flashlights don't even compare to the tour guide's LED light- & trust me, you're going to want to look at different areas of the cave that your guide doesn't have their light pointed at at least once during the tour! Wear close-toed shoes & LESS if more here... at the end of the tour everyone must get on the platform for the last 5-7 minutes for the conclusion of the tour and then to head back out the way we came. Toes may get stepped on & space is limited, so the less you have the better for everyone. The formations are amazing and our guide was AWESOME!