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America's great caverns: from massive limestone "cathedrals" to vast underground lakes, cave tours showcase glistening natural palaces dripping with pure fantasy and sheer beauty - Directory
Travel America, Jan-Feb, 2004 by Randy Mink
On family driving vacations in the hills of Missouri or Kentucky, Virginia or Tennessee, you probably saw a lot of billboards touting tourist attractions, particularly caves. Over the years, the idea of visiting commercial caverns has "haunted" folks who view them as tourist traps or perhaps are just a bit wary of what may lurk in those damp, drippy depths.
But to a new, environmentally aware generation, these spectacular underground chambers are seen as precious natural wonders ... literally buried treasures. For children, a cave tour is educational as well as just plain fun. Caves are cool again. So cool, in fact, that these "air-conditioned" vaults with temperatures hovering between a constant 52 to 60 degrees can be a bit chilly. But that's mighty refreshing on a hot summer's day. Aside from some relief from the heat, cave tours provide a look at dream-like formations in galleries, grottoes, alcoves, and canyons lavishly decorated by Mother Nature and enhanced through manmade illumination.
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Listen to the tour guide, use your imagination, and see shimmering sculpted rock in the form of totem poles, ant hills, statues, draperies, icicles, frozen waterfalls, even bacon and fried eggs. You might see "cave popcorn"--drops of limestone that have plopped down and crystallized in clusters. Many formations are still growing and glisten with moisture. (Just to refresh your memory--stalactites point their craggy fingers down from the ceilings, while stalagmites struggle up from the floor.)
Commercial caves are easy to explore via well-lit, paved paths. Whereas early explorers may have used ropes and stuffed lanterns with braided rags for wicks, most caves today have elevators. Besides underground tours, many cave attractions have above-ground diversions, from antique auto museums to children's play areas.
Subterranean Splendor
America's roadways abound with billboards hyping commercial caverns. Here's a sampling of caves that live up to their billing:
ALABAMA
DeSoto Caverns Park, 5181 DeSoto Caverns Parkway, Childersburg, AL 35044; (800) 933-2283; www.desotocavernspark.com. Tour the Great Onyx Cathedral and enjoy a laser show. Above-ground activities include panning for gemstones, water balloon battles, the Squirt Gun Maze, Cave Wall Climb, and other children's amusements.
ARKANSAS
Blanchard Springs Caverns, P.O. Box 1279, Mountain View, AR 72560; (670) 757-2211; www.mountainviewcc.org. Choose from an easy one-hour tour or a longer, more difficult trail. The visitors center offers a 20-minute movie and exhibit hall. Located in the Ozarks, this is the only cave system developed and operated by the U.S. Forest Service.
Cosmic Cavern, Route 4, Box 392, Berryville, AR 72616; (870) 749-2298; www.cosmiccavern.com. Featuring the Frozen Milky Way and Santa Claus formations, it boasts the Ozarks' largest underground lake.
KENTUCKY
Kentucky Down Under/Kentucky Caverns, P.O. Box 169, Horse Cave, KY 42749; (800) 762-2869; www.kdu.com. Besides cave tours, visitors get a taste of Australia's Outback by encountering kangaroos, emus, and other animals. Also demonstrations of Australian farm life and boomerang throwing, plus Aboriginal music and storytelling.
Mammoth Cave National Park, Mammoth Cave, KY 42259; (210) 758-2180; www.nps.gov/maca. The world's longest cave system boasts more than 350 miles of passageways.Tours, from 1 1/4 to 6 1/2 hours, range in degree of difficulty. The wild cave adventure requires crawling, climbing, and walking off the beaten path.
MISSOURI
Fantastic Caverns, 4872 North Farm Rd., Springfield, MO 65803; (417) 833-2010; www.fantasticcaverns.com. No walking is required because the entire tour is via jeep-drawn tram. Nearby are the musical attractions of Branson, Missouri.
Marvel Cave, West Highway 76, Branson, MO 65616; (417) 338-8220; www.silverdollarcity.com. Located at Silver Dollar City, an Ozarks-style theme park in music-lovin' Branson, America's third largest cavern has a huge waterfall and a main chamber 20 stories high.
Meramec Caverns, 1-44, Exit 230, Stanton, Me 63079; (800) 6766105; www.americascave.com. Nestled in the Ozark foothills alongside the Meramec River, this well-advertised cave is just over an hour from downtown St. Louis and was a hideout for outlaw Jesse James in the 1870s. The riverfront offers camping, canoeing, and sightseeing cruises.
NEW MEXICO
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, 3225 National Parks Highway, Carlsbad, NM 88220; (505) 785-2232; www.nps.gov/cave. In Carlsbad Cavern, the main cave, some of the ceilings arch up to 25 stories, while the Bottomless Pit, a monstrous black hole, plunges 14 stories down. One chamber, the Big Room, is the length of six football fields. At dusk from May through October, swarms of flying bats spiral out of the cave to feed on insects along the Pecos and Black rivers.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Jewel Cave National Monument, Custer, SD 57730; (605) 673-2288; www.nps.gov/jeca. This is believed to be the second longest cave in the country. There's a Scenic Tour, a more strenuous Lantern Tour in which participants carry candle lanterns, and a Spelunking Tour for hardy explorers who are given hard hats with headlights.
