17 Mile Cave Lava Tube — Attraction in Shelley

Took my wife here for a surprise date/adventure. I'm glad we didn't bring our dogs because there was a lot of broken glass and other debris on the floor of the cave. While it was 20⁰F outside, it was a nice 40ish inside. As others have mentioned, there's a lot of trash on the floor and a lot of graffiti on the walls. Some of the graffiti was actual art and was fun to look at, while the rest of it was just scribbles and smut.

It took us about 10 minutes to slowly walk to the "end". I'm sure you could keep going further into the cave, but that would mean submerging yourself under water for an unknown amount of time to get under a low spot. Without water, you'd probably be crawling on your stomach to get past it. It's too bad, because the shortness of the cave makes it not worth the drive out.

If you're in the area and have time for a short cave adventure, I'd suggest going for it. Just don't go with high...

I have been to that cave since I was a teenager back to 1974. My Dad has been to that cave when he was young before the Arco highway was built. And he said there was more cave to the north when you first enter the cave. People Have been interested in the water in the back of the cave and put it into a channel in the middle when it was in the back it looked like the cave went under the water at the back. but no it just ends there or the lava sealed the rest of the tube. Something I know from other cave explorers is there are a lot of caves and lava tubes in the area to the Arco Butte and Blackfoot lava flats to the Menan Buttes but they are kept secret because they don't want the spray paint graffities this cave has. I have seen some. The whole Snake River valley is volcanic and well drillers have told me there are a lot of caves but no entrances...

So fun and unique, and we had the entire cave to ourselves!

It was probably about 50 degrees down there. Everyone had a great time. There was broken glass here and there, as well as debris from other visitors, but it wasn’t as bad as some of these other comments made me think.

The entire cave was covered in graffiti. Lots of it was inappropriate, but there was a ton of really cool stuff too.

The whole family wants to go back already, they had so much fun!

Bring head lamps or bright lanterns or flashlights with fresh batteries. Bring a light jacket or sweater, and wear decent shoes (as there is glass).

If you are coming here for a unique experience, this is the place for you! If you are coming for a cave known for its natural beauty, you aren’t going to find it. Beauty and fun is subjective. We had...