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| Cave of the Mounds contains a variety of speleothems. |
Ten must-see caves in Wisconsin include:
Big Sand Cave
Day hikers can explore a sand cave at Wyalusing State Park. The 2.4-miles round trip Sand Cave Trail and Little Sand Cave Loop are a pair of new trails that take park visitors to a few previously unreachable sights. The cave sits in sandstone set down about 500 million years ago in the Cambrian era when this part of the state was under a shallow tropical sea; the sand is sediment deposited on that sea floor. Rich in quartz, the sandstone is poorly cemented together and so easily erodes when exposed to wind, rain, spring water and the freezing-thawing cycle. Such erosion created this overhang cave by hollowing out the soft sandstone beneath a harder limestone layer. At one time, the cave was much larger. Erosion washed out enough supporting sandstone, however, that the ceiling collapsed. The large rocks in front of the cave used to be that roof.
Cave of the Mounds
You can walk through caverns and passageways carved out of nearly half-billion-year-old limestone at Cave of the Mounds near Blue Mound. Speleothems – among them are stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, flowstone, curtains, lily pads, helictites and oolites – all can be found in the cave. Red and brown formations have a high content of iron oxide while those that are blue or gray contain manganese oxide. Fossils also have been found in the cave, most notably a six-foot giant cephalopod, a squid-like creature with a hard shell. The one-hour walking tour covers about 0.66 miles. Cave of the Mounds is among Wisconsin’s best known caves with more than 100,000 annual visitors.
Cave Point Sea Caves
Hikers can stroll above sea caves etched into the side of a 430-million-year-old limestone bluff at Cave Point County Park. The trail runs just under a mile on the beautiful Door Peninsula and stands atop the Niagara Escarpment, a shelf of dense dolomite stretching south to Milwaukee then north into Michigan, southward to Ontario and finally to Niagara, New York. At Cave Point, the shelf extends about a quarter of a mile offshore just beneath Lake Michigan’s surface. Because of this, the wind-driven waves break in the lake and then speed up as approaching the shore. Upon hitting the bluff, lake spray flies some 30 feet into the air, splashing the cedars and clifftop. The impacts are loud, and you’ll feel like you’re at the ocean.
Cherney Maribel Caves
Day hikers can explore several caves along a bluffside at the Cherney Maribel Caves County Park south of Green Bay. The 0.75-mile Bluff Trail runs past a variety of natural caves in a limestone cliff. Many of the caves here were discovered during the 1800s. Among them is the Maribel New Hope Cave, which was discovered in 1984 when steam came out of it. Talus blocking the entryway was removed, and on October 31, 1990, explorers removing sediment from a two-foot-high, 20-foot long passageway broke through to a cave room; it is now known as the Halloween Room. The largest of the park’s caves with stalactites and soda straws, Maribel New Hope is open to the public only during special tour hours.
Crystal Cave
Wisconsin’s longest cave sits near the village of Spring Valley. Overall, Crystal Cave is seven stories deep and 4000 feet long. A guided tour runs about 0.5-miles round trip through 1,300 feet of passageways; the deeper passages are closed to the public. The cave sits in a chunk of dolomite, a type of limestone, that formed about 485 million years ago when this part of the world was covered by a shallow sea; two fossils of nickel-sized snail-like creatures can be seen in cave’s floor. The cave also is home to several bat species; both big and brown bats hibernate there in winter. Usually a bat or two can be spotted sleeping above you in a passageway.
Eagle Cave
Visitors can explore Wisconsin’s largest onyx cave – the popular Eagle Cave near Richland Center. The tour at the commercially-operated cave heads through 3000 feet of passageways on four different levels. Several large rooms and formations can be seen on the tour. Always be sure to look up, though, as you’re likely to see onyx. It’s a rock that forms when a liquid solution of limestone rehardens as it dries out. Looking a lot like milky glass, the onyx can be several inches thick as it clings to the ceilings and formations such as stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, and ribbons.
Irvine Park Cave
Day hikers can enjoy a pleasant walk alongside a creek, through a tiny zoo, and past a man-made cave at Irvine Park in Chippewa Falls. The park heralds back to the day when cities set aside large swaths of land for multiple recreational purposes. It feels a lot like a miniature version of New York City’s Central Park or Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. Along the way is a small man-made cave that can be entered. When more of the park was a zoo, a bear was caged there with a cave as its den. To the cave’s south are a set of 60-foot high tiered rocks that can be scrambled up.
Kickapoo Indian Caverns
Hikers can explore a cave that is a vital home for rare bats at Kickapoo Indian Caverns near Prairie du Chien. Closed for several years, the Mississippi Valley Conservancy recently purchased the site, which is one of Wisconsin’s longest cave systems at 1400 feet. It boasts an underground river, stalactites and onyx. The opening few feet of the tour requires crouching with the low passageway opening up to a room boasting a 60-foot-high ceiling. The caverns also are a major winter hibernating grounds – called a hibernaculum – for three threatened bat species: the northern long-eared bat; the little brown bat; and the eastern pipistrelle.
Ledge View Caves
Visitors can enter the interior of an ancient rock formation that stretches nearly a thousand miles across the Great Lakes by going into caves at the Ledge View Nature Center near Chilton. Ledge View’s pair of caves systems sit in the Niagara Escarpment. Guided tours allow visitors to crawl through some of that muddy sediment. In fact, the tour prides itself on being on “wild” cave experience in which you traipse across dirt and puddles, climb ladders, slink through tunnels, and crouch in passages with low ceilings. Layered old clothes, shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty, and a knit cap, are recommended, and a flashlight is a must.
Mawikwe Bay Sea Caves
Perhaps Wisconsin’s most dramatic caverns are the Mawikwe Bay Sea Caves. Lake Superior’s crashing waves and millennia of winter’s freezing and thawing carved out honeycombed caves and a 50-foot deep chasm that runs more than 200 feet long. A natural bridge heads over the formation. The tinted sandstone and rainbows from the spray gives the formation a magical feel. The caves can’t be accessed from the trail except during winter when the lake freezes. During winter, icicles hanging from the sandstone roofs appear otherworldly. Kayakers at other times of the year can clamber about the caves. On land, the Lakeshore Trail skirts the chasm.
