Indian Echo Caverns – Hummelstown PA
This was one of our activities on Saturday, when we had some free time. After we spent the requisite one hour at Hershey’s Chocolate World, we made our way to Hummelstown to check out the Indian Echo Caverns. These are fairly complex caverns about 190 feet below ground. There is a gift shop, and several other money-making activities that we generally ignored. It cost us $11 per adult and $6 per child to take the tour.
The tours are lettered, and after you buy your tickets they call out your letter and several dozen people join the group at an appointed location outside the gift shop. WARNING: There is no apparent accomodations for people with disabilities. There are ~70 stairs down to the caverns, and ~70 stairs up, with no elevators or ramps. Also the cavern tour would be very very difficult to navigate with a wheelchair. You should be prepared to decend and ascend by foot, and tour the caverns themselves on fairly slippery, narrow paths.
That said, it’s a hell of a lot of fun, and a cool 52 degrees farenheit year-round. The only criticism I have is that the various tours starting at different times cross each other often and you have to stop and allow for other groups to get by. But that wasn’t a huge issue. The tour includes a large area and several paths going in to smaller areas. The tour guide was not a geologist, but was very knowlegeable about geology nontheless. Everything was well lit and easy to navigate visually.
If you’re in the Harrisburg / Hershey area and need a break from Hershey Park (although not a break from the workout I’m afraid) you should visit this attraction.