Can you enjoy some underground adventures and beat the heat during the summer? You can do by exploring some of the best caves in the country.
The world is a wonderful and interesting place with some cool locations that you won’t see in your city or rural area. Many discovered caves have become public tourist attractions, scientific study sites, and cool places to visit and enjoy the beauty and wonder of an underground world. Some of the best caves are incredibly large, making you wonder how such a place exists without falling in on itself.
Here are some of the best caves that you can explore and enjoy.
Mammoth Cave National Park – Kentucky
The largest cave system in the entire world is located in Kentucky. Mammoth Cave National Park is enormous and new cave connections are being discovered each year, making it a continuous exploration site. There are currently over 400 miles of cave to explore, which means several trips to the site would still leave you with more caves to check out and enjoy. The variety of hikes and tours gives you an easy way to enjoy this cave system, regardless of your hiking skill.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park – New Mexico
The most famous cave system in America is also one of the best caves for exploration. More than 400,000 tourists visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park each year to explore more than 119 known caves, with more being discovered. These caves were formed when sulfuric acid dissolved the surrounding limestone, which left caverns of various sizes and shapes. Part of New Mexico used to be under the sea and can be seen in these caves, giving you a glimpse at how much the world moves.
Marengo Cave – Indiana
If you want to see some beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, this is the cave to visit. They are divided into different sections called the Crystal Palace and the Dripstone Trail. The formation-filled rooms and flowstone deposits are incredible, giving you the beauty and views you want to enjoy when exploring a cave. You can throw pennies at the penny ceiling and watch them stick in an upside-down wishing well that is extremely cool and unique.
Jewel Cave -South Dakota
Jewel Cave is one of the best caves to visit and is known as the world’s third-longest cave, with more than 177 miles of mapped and surveyed caves. There is still more to be discovered, but getting to those areas has proven difficult. You can take a guided tour through the cave and see the sparking calcite formations that help give the cave its name. Visit the various chambers and passages during some of these tours and see everthing it has to offer. It might take a few visits for you to explore as much of the cave system as you desire.
Niagara Cave – Minnesota
Niagara Cave is a popular place for many couples to get married, and it has been the site of more than 400 weddings. Even if you don’t want to get married yet, or at all, you can still visit this amazing cave and enjoy a guided tour. The fossils in this cave date back more than 450 million years, and you’ll see some incredible formations. There’s even an underground waterfall that is 60 feet tall, giving you an amazing place for some great pictures.
Glenwood Caverns – Colorado
If you want to enjoy one of the best caves in the country and a theme park, Glenwood Caverns is the place to go. It is the largest show cave open to the public in Colorado and offers some amazing tours along with several rides and activities. Take a tour through the Historic Fairy Caves, where you’ll have access to caves that were only recently excavated. These were the first caves in the country to have electric lighting installed, making them some of the oldest caves open to tourists.
Luray Caverns -Virginia
The amazing cave formations in Luray Caverns draw more than one million visitors each year. There are several water features, incredible cave formations, and fantastic tours. The wonderland that is Luray Caverns has paths for people to walk through the caves without tour guides, which can make the experience much better. There is a formation that reminds some of a large church organ, and a contraption was made in the 1950s to make a sound that still plays during every tour.
Will you explore some of the best caves in the country? Which of these amazing locations will you visit and explore?