As it turns out, winter is a great time of year to go spelunking. Horne Lake Caves is one of Vancouver Island’s most intriguing natural features, and you can explore them year-round. This gives caving hopefuls the chance to cross a memorable below-ground experience off their bucket lists!
Underground lakes, rivers, and a waterfall
While spelunking is a mostly dry activity, Tourism Vancouver Island says it can get damp at times, as there are multiple rivers flowing through the caves. So make sure you pack your rain gear and flashlights for this adventure.
You can book a guided caving tour led by professionals who know how to best navigate the terrain, which includes mesmerizing underground lakes, calcite crystal formations, fossils, and meandering streams. Oh, and a seven-storey waterfall at the largest of four explorable caves, Riverbend Cave.
Situated around 30 minutes away from Parksville, the caving adventure operators have everything you need to head underground. Most of the caves are two or three storeys high, ranging in difficulty from the family-friendly Riverbend Cave Tour to the challenging Max Depth Adventure Tour.
The easiest and most spacious tour of the bunch, the Riverbend Caving Explorer ($59 per person) offers spelunkers the chance to explore Riverbend Cave’s fascinating history and geology, all without any vertical climbing or squeezing into tight spaces.
Canada’s only cave slide
The Multi-Cave Experience ($84 per person) adds on Main Cave, which has visitors climbing a three-tier waterfall (no ropes needed), doing a standing squeeze, and sliding down Canada’s only cave slide.
The third and final guided tour you can choose is The Action Pack (79 per person), which takes visitors on a challenging but rewarding journey to two caves: Main and Lower Caves.
These obstacle-based caves feature ancient fossils and stunning calcite crystal formations, including one that glows in the dark.
Guided tours are available year-round, seven days a week, and can be booked online.
How to get there: Take a ferry to Nanaimo and drive one hour to Horne Lake Caves Provincial park via BC-19 N.
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