When visiting Great Basin National Park, do yourself a favor and book one of the Lehman Cave Tours. We booked the Lodge Room tour, and this experienve was the highlight of our visit to this remote park in Baker, Nevada.
Tips for Exploring Lehman Cave Tours
You will not regret taking the time to visit when you plan your Great Basin National Park adventure. Here are a few tips for making your visit:
Schedule Your Lehman Cave Tour in advance
Guided tours are the only way that you will get to take advantage of the opportunity though. Plan ahead, space is limited! We put the Lehman Cave Visitor Center into our GPS, and the rest was history!
Three tours that are offered:
- The Lodge Room Tour – this is the tour that we went on. The Lodge Room tour is about an hour long. It takes you to three rooms in the cave: the Gothic Palace, the Music Room, and the Lodge Room
- The Grand Palace Tour – this tour is about 90 minutes in duration and follows the same path as the Lodge Room Tour, but also takes visitors to the Inscription Room and the Grand Palace. I would love to get a chance to do this tour if we make it back to Great Basin.
- The Gothic Palace Tour – this is an accessible tour that takes visitors to the first room visited on the other tours, the Gothic Palace.
We made our reservations in advance so that we knew that we had a space. Our tickets were under $10 per person. You can get the latest prices and availability at recreation.gov by clicking here.
Make sure that you are “cave clean”.
You will want to wear clothing and footwear that is clean and that hasn’t been worn into another cave before. This helps stop the spread of white nose syndrome, a fungus that can be carried unknowingly from cave to cave that kills bats.
Wear a jacket.
Even on a warm day, temperatures within the cave can be cool. A jacket may make your visit a little more comfortable.
Don’t touch the cave surfaces.
Lehman Cave is an actively growing cave. As caves form over time, built through actively moving water and minerals, oils and particles contained in our skin can damage cave growth. Touching the surfaces kills the cave. Just don’t do it.
“Why is it called the Goblin’s Palace?” I asked, sincerely hoping for a hobbit-like tale in the narrative voice of famous writer, JRR Tolkien.
Our Experience on the Lodge Room Tour: A Quick Story
“It’s the Gothic Palace – not the Goblin’s Palace… and I’m not entirely sure – perhaps the inspiration of Gothic architecture”, replied our ranger tour guide.
I shifted my stance, slightly embarrassed by my ignorant question. I brushed against Jason’s jacket, making a “swishy” sound against the vinyl windbreaker material – it laughed at my shame.
Absolute Darkness In the Cave
“Is everyone ok if I turn out the lights?” our guide queried the two-dozen or so visitors that had embarked on this hour-long journey together. No one said a word – everyone wanted to have the unique experience of absolute darkness that can only be had in the depths of a cave.
After a red-eye flight into McCarran airport in Las Vegas, a determined trip to the grocery on the outskirts of Las Vegas, and a purpose-driven 4.5-hour drive, we had made it to Baker, Nevada with minutes to spare before our scheduled tour departed. What better way to kick-off our road trip than with this special experience?
Our group, composed of fellow travelers and park-lovers from the various corners of the U.S. held a collective breath as the lights dimmed and the silence and eerily-pure darkness settled upon us. Seconds that felt like long minutes passed and the discomfort of being absolutely and completely without the sense of sight struck me.
Gothic Palace in Lehman Cave
I saw clearly why this room of the cave was called the Gothic Palace the ranger slowly illuminated sections of the room with dim light,. The stalactites and soda straw formations glistened as if they were chandeliers adorning the dramatic vaulted ceilings of a grand cathedral.
After entering the cave through the man-made entrance, walking silently under the natural entrance to the cave (sacred burial grounds for American Indians that occupied the land before it was claimed as a National Park), and experiencing complete darkness and silence in the gorgeous Gothic Palace – I could relish in the fact that we were doing it! The 67th National Park unit that we have had the privilege to visit was an absolute beauty!
Great Basin National Parks’ Lehman Cave tours were also a great way to kick-off our road trip from Las Vegas. As this gorgeous limestone cave was the first stop on our week-long trek through a dozen park units in Nevada, Utah, Arizona and California, we were getting off to a great start.
The Music Room
Ensuring that we didn’t linger too long, and that we got to spend time in the other areas of the cave, our ranger guide led us through a narrow passage. The formations above us caused us to bend our heads slightly, and we were all reminded not to touch the cave or any of the formations as the oils in our hands would kill the progress that thousands of years of minerals and water had sculpted.
We then proceeded to the next room in the cave called the Music Room, so named because the early explorers in the cave that looked up saw organ pipes built that had formed in the room.
Lehman Cave’s Lodge Room
We explored deeper on our way to the Lodge Room. Beautiful waves and drapery formations greeted us and appeared to shine with a purple luster. We ascended a few stairs with railways (thanks for installing those NPS!), and were in the final room of our tour, the Lodge Room in a matter of minutes.
Here we had a discussion about life in the cave. I was surprised by the number of small insects and animals that called the cave home given the “harshness” of the dark that we had experienced.
This room also showcased more of the soda straws that have become one of my favorite cave formations. These beauties are formed by small collections of minerals that crystallize, carried by small droplets of water.
The Lodge Room is where we met a new friend and fellow park lover as well. Shout out to IG: @enjoyingthiswildlife.
Conclusion
Make a stop at Lehman Cave when visiting Great Basin National Park. This is only one of the many things to do within the park, but the experience is unique. You won’t see goblins or anything 😉, but you will get to take in a special habitat that is millions of years in the making. I suppose that just might be even better.
We invite you to read more about our Vegas Road Trip experiences.
Happy Exploring!
