Crawford State Park Washington State Parks Things to remember Heritage Site • Wear a light jacket or sweater. The 10381 Boundary Road cave temperature is 39 to 42 degrees Metaline Falls, WA 99152 Fahrenheit. State Parks information: Gardner Cave • Bring a flash light. (360) 902-8844 Crawford State Park Heritage Site Although the cave is Reservations: Online at lighted, extra www.parks.state.wa.us or call lighting allows (888) CAMPOUT or (888) 226-7688 you to peer into corners and Other state parks located in adds to your the general area: Curlew Lake and Mount Spokane enjoyment. • Bring a camera with a flash. • Do not touch cave formations. Touching them Connect with us on social media leaves oil behind, causes the www.twitter.com/WAStatePks formations to stop growing and www.facebook.com/WashingtonStateParks turns them from white to gray. Smoking in the cave also causes discoloration. Smoking www.youtube.com/WashingtonStateParks is prohibited. Share your stories and photos: Adventure Awaits.com • Do not take pets into the cave.

S Sample If you would like to support Washington State S Sample Parks even more, please consider making a 2018 donation when renewing your license plate tabs. 2017 You also may place a check in a donation box The Discover Pass is required for day visits to state parks when you visit state parks. Sample and access to other state-managed recreation lands. The Sample S Donations are a significant part of the State Parks budget and pass provides access to millions of acres of parks, wildlife S are needed to keep your parks open and operating. 2016For more information, visit www.parks.state.wa.us/donations areas, trails, natural areas and water-access sites. The 2019 annual pass is transferable between two vehicles. • Annual pass: $30 • One-day pass: $10 (transaction and dealer fees may apply) Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission The Discover Pass can be purchased online, by phone P.O. Box 42650 or in person. For details, visit Olympia, WA 98504-2650 www.discoverpass.wa.gov or (360) 902-8500 call (866) 320-9933. www.parks.state.wa.us • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Thank you for Commission members: Ken Bounds Mark O. Brown supporting Patricia T. Lantz Michael Latimer Washington state Steve S. Milner Diana Perez recreation lands. Lucinda S. Whaley Agency director: Don Hoch All Washington state parks are developed and maintained for the enjoyment of all people.

To request this brochure in an alternative format, please call (360) 902-8844 or the Washington Telecommunications Relay Service at (800) 833-6388. P&R 45-75001-1 (05/18) www.parks.state.wa.us Welcome to Crawford State Park The process of creating a cave Definitions Heritage Site passage and formations • Stalactites form as water drips slowly from the This 49-acre forested day-use park features Limestone dissolves in acid, such as the acid ceiling of the cave, leaving calcite deposits. Gardner Cave, one of the longest limestone caverns formed when rainwater absorbs carbon dioxide • Stalagmites form as water drips to the floor, in Washington. This tourable cave is filled with from soil. The weak acid seeps into the ground and, leaving calcite deposits. stalactites, stalagmites, rimstone pools and flowstone. over hundreds of thousands of years, small cracks • Helictites form as water rich in calcite seeps into The park is located 11 miles north of the town enlarge as the limestone is dissolved and carried tiny holes in a cave’s rock. Hydrostatic pressure of Metaline in the extreme northeast corner of away. Eventually, this process forms a cave passage. forces a small amount of solution out, carbon Washington state. From the parking lot, a paved Over the centuries, drops of water find their way dioxide is lost and calcite is deposited. trail leads up a small hill about 200 yards to the through the surrounding limestone to the cave • Columns form when stalactites and stalagmites cave entrance. Cave lights, stairways and walkways passage. When exposed to air in the cave, the carbon unite. Gardner Cave’s 7.8-ton column is the largest provide safety for visitors and protection dioxide in the water is released. A deposit of calcite in the Pacific Northwest. for the natural resource. (chemically similar to the original limestone) remains. • Rimstone pools, or gours, form when constant drips Park staff conducts tours of Gardner Cave for groups from the ceiling drill holes into the cave floor. The of 25 people or less. To pre-arrange a tour, contact the History holes enlarge and merge together to form small park at (509) 446-4065 or Mount Spokane State Park at Pend Oreille County-settler Edward E. Gardner lends basins filled with calcite-saturated water. Ceiling (509) 238-4258. his name to Gardner Cave as its apparent discoverer water falls into these basins and causes a Crawford State Park Heritage circa 1900, although there are other discovery claims. disturbance. The water splashes and flows over Site has one kitchen shelter Gardner Cave was reportedly found during a hunting the outer edges of the basin to deposit calcite without electricity, plus two foray by the homesteader, farmer, placer miner, future and create a rim. sheltered and 11 unsheltered Metaline saloon keeper and alleged bootlegger during • Flowstone forms as water deposits calcite over picnic tables, available on a Prohibition. Edward Gardner homesteaded adjacent land walls and other surfaces. first-come, first-served basis. on the Pend Oreille River, but never owned the cave. • Breakdown is an area where pieces of rock and Park hours Metaline businessman William H. Crawford operated a debris have fallen down or broken off from the cave walls or ceiling. The cave is open May to September, depending on general store and acquired ownership of about 160 acres weather that included Gardner’s Cave in 1920. This was likely an investment opportunity given the local potential for timber, Summer: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Ledge Flowstone (closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays) placer and hardrock metals within the Metaline Mining District. Crawford’s investment was short lived as he Rimstone pools Breakdown Cave tours deeded 40 acres containing the cave to Washington State 10 a.m. and Noon, 2 and 4 p.m. Parks in 1921 for public purposes, after logging the land. Stalactities Column For tour information or to schedule a tour, email A 1911 federal land survey assigned a length of [email protected] or call (509) 446-4065. 1,100 feet to what they called Little Mammoth Cave – Stalagmites Rimstone Pools “a natural wonder of considerable interest.” Geological development of Gardner Cave Gardner Cave is significant as an uncommon Gardner Cave has a length of 2,072 feet and a limestone cavern in Washington that is accessible depth of at least 295 feet. The history of the formation to the public. Dry Steam Channel of Gardner Cave began approximately 500 million years ago. Packrat Nest As sea creatures died, their shells Packrat Nest settled to the bottom and Rimstone Pools formed a limestone “ooze.” Second ENTRANCE blocked Fried Column This ooze eventually entrance Eggs turned into a rock called Rimstone Christmas Queen’s Platform Metaline limestone, Throne Pools which folded and Cave gate Tree Helectities Grotto Blocked faulted as mountains and Soda passage formed about 70 million *Distance from entrance to platform is 494 feet. Straws years ago.