Crawford State Park Heritage Site

Sandie Durand, Park naturalist and interpreter, led us on a tour of the Gardner Cave at Crawford State Park just north of Metaline WA recently. She was superb - a master at delivering natural history, history, and the safety rules of the park in a riveting, fascinating and fun way - The teens on our family trip were incredibly engaged the whole hour and a half tour. The cave was fascinating! The ability to walk on uneven ground and up and down some sets of stairs is necessary for this trip. Highly recommended!

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.

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 REV

Really cool natural cave formation. Tour guide was very knowledgeable of the geology. Year round temperature of the cave is about 40°, so take a jacket along. Also a bit of a hike up to the entrance from the parking lot, good shoes are advised.

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.