Cave Tours

[jeb]

My son and his wife are coming down from MN the week of the 4th. They like to go caving. Last time they were here, we visited Cosmic Cavern, over on the other side of Eureka Springs a few miles. Was not too impressed. Hour tour was mostly standing in one spot for 10 minutes while the guide yacked at us about history of the Ozarks, move 50' and repeat. Pretty small cave, really. I'd like to find something that is a bigger cave and not such a commercialized experience.

So let me know if you have any recommendations. Probably no more than a 2 hour drive from Rogers. Thanks!

[wc1063]

Not much a spelunker myself, but when we have friends or relatives visiting from other states or overseas, we always take them to Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, Mo.

Oh, and BPS just happen to be near by!!

[Feathers and Fins]

A good friend of mine is a geologist I will ask him what is in the area and see if he has some suggestions. Are you wanting tour or wild?

[Stump bumper]

There is a small cave in Noel Mo that is very close and inexpensive, probably a 100 yards at best but very cool on a hot summer day and didn't cost very much for a nice tour. Not one I would repeat, but glad I took the wife and kids once, then you can get a hamber and fries on the side of the river and watch big small mouth run out and feed between tubers.

[jeb]

A good friend of mine is a geologist I will ask him what is in the area and see if he has some suggestions. Are you wanting tour or wild?

Probably more on the tour end. My son and I would be cool with the wild stuff, but the girls, not so much. I did some VERY wild caving in SE MN where I used to live. Was with the president of the MN speleological society. They were trying hard to freak me out as a newbie to it. I'm not the least bit claustrophobic though. So I enjoyed it, but it did not light a fire in me or anything.

[Quillback]

Devils Den State Park has caves, but several of them are closed because of some fungus that could get spread to the bats. I think they do tours, but you'd have to call to see. Definitely would not be as commercialized as some of the private caves.

For further information, contact: Monte Fuller, park superintendent, Devil’s Den State Park, 11333 West Arkansas Highway 74, West Fork, AR 72774; phone: 479-761-3325; e-mail: monte.fuller@arkansas.gov; or Earl Minton, park superintendent, Withrow Springs State Park, 33424 Spur 23, Huntsville, AR 72740; phone: 479-559-2593; e-mail: earl.minton@arkansas.gov.

[vonreed]

You could try Smallin Civil War Cave in Ozark, MO. I've never been there, but i've heard it's pretty neat to see. Really really big to.

[taxidermist]

http://suite101.com/article/caves-of-north-west-arkansas-a72236

Here is a list of NWA commercial caves.

[jeb]

Thanks much!

[jeb]

We went to the Smallin cave. Very interesting. The tour guide/owner was a lot of fun. We had done a tour at the Cosmic cave the year before. That was more of a real cave experience, but the guide was not nearly as good and made for a worse experience. Smallin cave has a HUGE opening, and a lot of history. My son and I may go back at some point to do a wild cave tour of Smallin.

Thanks for the recommendations.