RV Tour Leg 44 – Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park (plus a couple of oopsies)

Inside the caverns at Lewis and Clark

David and I are capable engineers… but that doesn’t mean we’re immune to silly mistakes. In RV life, the smallest lapse can snowball into a big mess—especially if we’re sleepy or something throws us off our routine. Let’s just say, the RV lifestyle isn’t for the mechanically-timid.

Oops #1 – The Midnight Flood

While camping in Seattle, nature called in the middle of the night. I washed my hands and, without realizing it, left the faucet running just enough to keep a trickle going. In an RV, that’s deadly. By morning, the gray water tank was full, the shower had overflowed, and water had spread across the bathroom floor into the bedroom. At 4 a.m., my first step out of bed landed in a soggy slosh. Once I figured it out, the faucet was shut off in a hurry, and David and I spent the next hour mopping up our indoor lake, after David braved the cold and dumped the gray tank while still in his PJ's - thank goodness we were at a full-hookup site.

Oops #2 – Tailgate Trouble… Again

A few weeks later in Missoula, we hooked up the trailer like pros and ran our light test—no brake lights. Ugh. We opened the tailgate, and David found debris in the connector, cleaned it out, and—success!—the lights worked. Relieved, we hopped in the truck and pulled away. At the very first turn, we heard a sickening crunch. In our excitement, we’d forgotten to put the tailgate back up. It smashed into the generator door on the camper, leaving behind what we know is an $800 repair. How do we know? This is our second tailgate mishap. (The first wasn’t our fault—thank you, random rainstorm and manufacturer truck recall.) Lesson learned: “Tailgate up” is now a permanent item on our drive-away checklist.

Camper damage from the open tailgate - "close tailgate" has been added to the checklist

Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park

After Glacier, our planned stop in Bozeman to see our friend Craig fell through due to scheduling conflicts. Needing a plan for the days before Yellowstone, I tossed the question into our RV Lifestyle Facebook group. With 587,000 members, advice comes fast. We landed on Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park in Montana—and it didn’t disappoint.

We stopped at a bakery outside of Glacier on way to Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park - they were having a sale, we have lots of bread!

The campground was spacious and peaceful, though we were too late for an electric site, so we boondocked. Thanks to David’s solar setup, three nights off-grid were no problem—just a bit toasty at times. The park, nestled in a valley along the Jefferson River and ringed by smooth, weathered mountains, offers beautiful hiking. We sampled a few trails with sweeping views of the campground, the valley, and distant peaks.

View of the campground from our first hike. Jefferson River in the background.

Beautiful views as seen from our hikes

The caverns themselves were the star. A short hike to the entrance rewarded us with even more mountain vistas before we descended into a wonderland of intricate rock formations. Our tour guide, equal parts comedian and educator, peppered us with geology and geography questions. For a while, David and I were the only ones answering—apparently, we’d paid closer attention to the plaques and visitor center movies than most. Eventually, we decided to just keep our mouths shut.

Mountain views on the hike to the cavern entrance

Gorgeous formations in the Cavern

RV Life isn't stressing Daphne any more!

After those earlier mishaps, our peaceful days at Lewis and Clark Caverns were just the reset we needed—quiet hikes, fascinating formations, and no disasters. Next stop: the wild crowds of Yellowstone.