Crystal Caves

It takes about 45 minutes to go to the Crystal Cave Rd. from Foothills Visitor Center, and the road is very curvy. It takes another 30 minutes to get to the parking lot; that route is only a single lane road, so be careful (it's not as curvy as Generals Highway between Hospital Rock and Crystal Cave Rd though). Once you get there, there will be someone there to gather the people for the tour, and to ask you to head down to the mouth of the cave where the tour guide will meet you. Get there a little early so you can use the restrooms near the parking lot before you hike over to the cave. The hike takes about 15 minutes, but you will pass by a few waterfalls. You can either enjoy them on your way to the mouth, or catch them on your way back. The hike there is easy because it's downhill; just remember you have to come back up! The cave tour itself is nice, but the cave is cold. For some reason, it's got a cool breeze going through the cave, so even with a short sleeve t-shirt and a long sleeve shirt over that, I was still a bit cold. My kids had a sweatshirt-like jacket over their t-shirts and they were still cold. Besides that though, the tour inside the cave wasn't strenuous. You walk on paved walkways, and it's lighted inside the cave. We didn't see any bats or bugs, though the guide says they're there. The cave is definitely worth a visit.