Junior Cave Ranger Experience

 

Spend your Saturday morning with a park ranger learning about caves and karst, and how to protect these natural resources.

NPS Photo/C. Kouba

Great Basin's Junior Cave Ranger Experience engages kids and their families with the park's incredible underground landscape through hands-on activities, a trip through a simulated wild cave, and a ranger-guided tour into Lehman Caves. This program is limited to 20 total participants – kids and adults – and requires advanced registration.

Meet at the Great Basin Visitor Center at 9am every Saturday from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend for a fun, interactive ranger-led activity about caves, such as making a sinkhole in a cup, building a cave ecosystem, or exploring the lives of bats. Then, gear up for a crawl through the park's CaveSim - featuring 140 feet of simulated wild cave passages, climbs, and squeezes. Finally, head up the mountain to experience the real Lehman Caves on a 30-minute ranger-guided Gothic Palace Tour. After leaving the cave, participants will be sworn in as a Junior Cave Ranger!

Reservations for the Junior Cave Ranger Experience become available 30 days in advance. Tickets must be purchased online on Recreation.gov, or by calling their reservation line at [phone]. Check the park calendar frequently to see when programs are offered.

 

visit rec.gov to reserve

Junior Ranger Experience Tickets

 

Hands-on Junior Ranger programs are fun for the whole family.

NPS Photo

Typical Program Schedule

8:45 AM – Check-in begins outside the Great Basin Visitor Center
9:00 – 9:30 AM – Hands-on activity in the Great Basin Resource Classroom
9:30 – 10:15 AM – Explore CaveSim outside the Great Basin Visitor Center
10:30 AM – Drive up to Lehman Caves Visitor Center
10:50 AM – Meet behind Lehman Caves Visitor Center for Cave Tour prep
11:00 – 11:30 AM – Gothic Palace Tour of Lehman Caves
11:35 AM – Junior Cave Ranger Swearing-In Ceremony

The Great Basin Junior Ranger Experience is designed to help children learn about the unique importance of caves and karst environments and create meaningful connections to these resources, inspiring the next generation of public land stewardship. Activities are modeled after lesson plans geared towards grades K-8, but kids of all ages and their families are encouraged to participate.

To request special accommodations, have questions about accessibility or other concerns, please contact the park via email or call 775-234-7331.

 

 

Other Ranger-led programs

• 

  Go Underground

  Lehman Caves Tours

  Enter the remarkable Lehman Caves and explore a unique marble cave full of stalactites, stalagmites, popcorn, cave shields, and mystery.

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  Join a Ranger for fun!

  Evening Programs

  Rangers provide evening programs in the park between Memorial Day and Labor Day on a number of topics. Come join us!

• 

  Look Up!

  Great Basin Astronomy

  Check out our free ranger-led Astronomy Programs.