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One of the most popular activities at Great Basin National Park is to visit the Lehman Caves. Discovered by Absalom Lehman in 1885, the caves are home to several small creatures including bats, spiders, and mites, and are full of spectacular formations. Cave bacon, stalactites, and stalagmites are everywhere.
Tours of Lehman Caves
Tours of the Lehman Caves can be booked at the Lehman Caves Visitor Center, but booking online in advance is highly recommended. They sell out fast! Bookings can be made up to 30 days in advance and tours are limited to 20 people.
Due to an electrical problem with part of the cave’s lighting system, there’s currently only one tour available (as of April 2025). The 60-minute Parachute Shied tour visits the Lodge Room, the Inscription Room, Cypress Swamp, Grand Palace, and the Sunken Garden. It’s 0.6 miles long and runs daily. Tickets are US$12 for visitors age 16+, US$6 for kids age 5-15, and US$1 for kids under 5 (as of April 2025).
When everything’s working correctly, here are the other tours at Lehman Caves:
- The 30-minute Gothic Palace tour visits the Gothic Palace and the Rose Trellis Room. It’s ¼ mile long.
- The Lodge Room tour lasts about 60 minutes and visits the Gothic Palace, Rose Trellis Room, Music Room, and Lodge Room. It’s ½ mile long.
- The 90-minute Grand Palace tour visits all of the above sections plus the Grand Palace, Inscription Room, and Cypress Swamp. It’s 0.8 miles long.
- Finally, the 20-minute First Room Accessible tour visits the Gothic Palace and is for guests who cannot negotiate stairs or narrow passageways. It’s ¼ mile long.
Gothic Palace
We decided to do the Grand Palace tour. It was a great choice because we were able to see all of the best rooms in the cave. The ranger who led our tour was enthusiastic and funny, and we learned a lot about the formations present in each room. The first room we visited was the Gothic Palace, which has very high ceilings and all kinds of amazing formations.
Music Room
Next was the Music Room. We felt as if we were inside a giant pipe organ. We were then shown how cave bacon and the other formations are created.
Lodge Room
The ranger had some intriguing stories about how the Lodge Room was used over the years. It was shocking to many on the tour that in the early 20th century, people would enter the cave in their best clothes for parties. They would bring food and drinks, bands would play live music, and there would be dancing. Lots of garbage accumulated over the years and irreparable damage was done.
Inscription Room
If we had taken the Lodge Room tour, it would end here, but we still had a good half hour to go on the Grand Palace tour. We continued with the Inscription Room, where early 20th century visitors would leave graffiti on the walls of the cave.
Grand Palace
The final area of the tour was the Grand Palace, which is the most spectacular room in the cave.
Mountain View Nature Trail
When the tour was finished, we decided to do the short Mountain View Nature Trail, which takes you past the original entrance to the cave. It’s hard to imagine visitors over 100 years ago climbing down a rope in formal clothing.
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