With all the beautiful scenery on display in our national and state parks, we can forget that there’s a world of wonder below the surface in much of the country.
If you like the dark and the wild, colorful formations that occur in caves and caverns, check out some of these places on public lands.
Lava Beds National Monument, California
Image Credit: Geartooth Productions/Shutterstock.
Native American rock art and over 800 caves are among the attractions at this site in Northern California. It’s famous for its lava tubes, underground conduits for magma that remain hollowed out after magma leaves them.
Great Basin National Park, Nevada
Image Credit:JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock.
This remote park is best-known for its snowy peaks and ancient bristlecone pines, but it also has an underground wonderland you can tour. It’s one of the best things to do here late fall through early spring when the high country is snowed under, and it’s also a nice escape from the heat of summer.
Timpanogos Cave National Monument, Utah
Image Credit: EWY Media/Shutterstock.
With an opening on the flanks of Mt. Timpanogos, the highest peak in the Provo area, the three caves have limited months of being open due to snow conditions. When they are open, you can visit the caves on guided tours.
Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, Montana
Image Credit: Chase Clausen/Shutterstock.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, these caverns were discovered in 1892 by two local ranches who saw steam coming from their vents. Lewis and Clark did not enter these caverns, but they did camp within sight of them in 1805.
Jewel Cave National Monument, South Dakota
Image Credit: NayaDadara/Shutterstock.
The fifth longest cave system in the world and second longest in the U.S. Jewel Cave is at the western edge of the state in the famed Black Hills. Two local prospectors discovered the cave in 1900 and named it for the crystals they found inside. Today, you can go on guided tours to see some of the cave’s wonders.
Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota
Image Credit: Serge Yatunin/Shutterstock.
A short drive from Jewel Cave, Wind Cave is famous for formations called boxwork, and 95% of the world’s known specimens of it are here. This cave “breathes,” which results in equalizing the atmospheric pressure in the cave and outside it, giving it its name.
Kartchner Caverns State Park, Arizona
Image Credit: Thomas Trompeter/Shutterstock.
Many caves open to the public aren’t as pristine as they could be because people were visiting them before conservation was a key concern. Kartchner Caverns is remarkably pristine. When it opened as a state park in 1999, only a few people had even been inside thanks to its original tiny opening.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico
Image Credit: Mariusz S. Jurgielewicz/Shutterstock.
The main Carlsbad Cavern contains the Big Room, the continent’s largest natural underground chamber. Self-guided tours are available in this cave, and on summer evenings, you can gather outside the cave entrance to watch thousands and thousands of bats emerge at dusk to go hunting for the night.
Kickapoo Cavern State Park, Texas
Image Credit: Karina Eremina/Shutterstock.
Longhorn Cavern is probably the best-known cave in the Texas state parks, but Kickapoo Cavern, another Hill Country cave, feels a little more pristine. It’s also a great place to observe bird species when you’re aboveground.
Maquoketa Caves State Park, Iowa
Image Credit: dvande/Shutterstock.
Most caverns feature guided tours or heavily restricted self-guided paths, but this state park is an exception. You’re all on your own here and have to bring your own equipment whether you’re exploring a beginner-friendly walking section or wriggling through a tighter one definitely not for anyone with claustrophobia.
Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
Image Credit: Zack Frank/Shutterstock.
Of the world’s known cave systems, Mammoth Cave is its longest, with more than 426 miles of passages and chambers surveyed. Different types of tours are available here, including standard lighted tours and tours where visitors carry their own lamps.
Florida Caverns State Park, Florida
Image Credit: GLBG/Shutterstock.
Beaches and sunshine, not dark caves, come to mind when we think of Florida. The Sunshine State has a lot of caves, though. At Florida Caverns State Park, you can see amazing stalactites, stalagmites, and other formations. If you have a pleasant experience, give a moment of thanks to the CCC workers who enlarged the natural tunnels with hand tools back in the 1930s so people could walk through them.
Read More:
Image Credit: Jacob Lund/Shutterstock.
Want some more great travel content?
Check this out: The 15 Most Beautiful Waterfalls in the U.S. You Need to See at Least Once in Your Life
and this too! 14 Great Sights from the Road in the American Desert Southwest
Leave a Reply