The rolling hills of southern Indiana, known as the land of limestone, are a spelunker's dream. Water has turned the soluble rock into a complex system of underground passageways, attracting cave aficionados from all over.
More than 2,600 caves are thought to exist beneath these heavily wooded
lands, all within a small wedge-shaped area of the state. But many caves are
accessible only to serious cavers, those ready to crawl on their stomachs
through dark, wet and narrow passages.
Fortunately
for those who want to tour the underground without much fuss, the Indiana Cave Trail offers the state’s
major caves which are easy to explore while remaining upright or even sitting
in a boat.
Bluespring Caverns
1459
Bluespring Caverns Road, Bedford, IN.
812-279-9471 or www.bluespringcaverns.com
Beneath
the rolling green hills of Southern Indiana, the sinewy 21 mile Myst’ry River
courses through the subterranean passages of Bluespring Caverns near Bedford,
Indiana. Serious spelunkers could crawl
through the caverns, most of them still unexplored in an area known as
Limestone Country because of the porous rock beneath the surface that’s perfect
for forming caves. But for those of who
like soft adventure the best way to travel the longest subterranean river in
the United States is on a specially designed 17 person flat-bottomed boat.
Climb
aboard for the hour long, 1.7 mile trip as the boat navigates the river’s
twists and turns, moving through passageways whose walls are coated with a fine
film of mud. The tour is memorable with
the boat maneuvering tight corners that take it from high vaulted chambers into
narrow passages on a river abundant with rare albino blindfish and crayfish. Overhead, water occasionally drips from
stalactites. When the drops hit boaters,
the clammy experience is affectionately known as cave kisses. These
dripping ceilings along with the few moments when the guide switches off
all illumination, plunging the caverns into a dense, impenetrable darkness that
hides everything behind a black velvet curtain, remind visitors what the early
explorers of these caverns, known to locals since the early 1800s, must have
experienced.
Return
to the land above to grab food at the snack bar at the Hospitality Center and
picnic under the sun in the wooded cove outside by the parking lot, pan for
gold, learn the geological history of the cave through the storyboard exhibits
and buy treasures such as native Indiana rocks and arrowheads at the caverns’
gift shop.
Marengo Cave U.S. National
Landmark
400 E State Road 64 Marengo, IN
812-365-2705 or http://marengocave.com/
There
are all sorts of caving options at Marengo Cave. Soft adventure spelunkers can
opt for several walking tours (no slithering on your stomach required) through
vast rooms of stone formations dripping stalactites and erupting stalagmites. There’s the 40-minute Crystal Palace tour
which runs about a third of a mile and
passes by Mirror Lake. The Dripstone Trail Tour is a 70-minute, one mile walk
that passes by both Mirror Lake and Looking Glass Lake. Another stopping point
is the Crystal Palace Room, where a flashing light show accompanies music, in a
grand underground theater with stone seats and a stage. The colored lights illuminated the various
stalactites and other geological wonders in what is the ultimate light
show. There is also a combo tour that
takes visitors on both tours.
Those
wanting to slither will be happy to hear that there are also some deeper
explorations in the raw, undeveloped portions of the cave. The two-hour plus clean-up time Underground
Adventure explores the stream level of Marengo Cave which involves crawling,
stooping, sloshing through water and a lot of mud. Then there’s the Waterfall
Crawl where spelunkers enter and exit through a vertical shaft into a remote
area of the cave that’s home to the state’s 10th largest spring
though this one is underground.
Located
near the town of Marengo, the cave has a been a tourist attraction since 1883
when teenagers Orris and Blanche Hiestand slid down a narrow opening at the
bottom of sinkhole holding candles to illuminate their way. What they found was a cave described as being
so grand that within days hundreds of locals were visiting the site. Samuel Stewart, who owned the land where the
cave was found, reacted by making the cave available to tourists on a
commercial basis. Since then, this cave system has been opened to the public
continuously. The Stewart family owned the cave until 1955 and since then it
has had just a few owners. To get the feel of what it must have been like for
Blanche and Orris, on the walking tours, the cave’s illumination is turned off
and candles are lit. Darkness in a cave is complete to such an extent that one
literarily can’t see their hands in front of their face. For those doing the
more serious caving trips, helmets and headlamps are used.
Though
the caverns are the main event here, there are a myriad of other activities
too.
.jpg)
The
Blue River winds its way through this part of the state. And Cave Country
Canoes offers a series of trips including a seven mile trip which takes two to
four hours, a full day trip and a two day trip. Sights along the Blue River,
Indiana’s first designated Scenic and Natural
River, includes blue herons, ducks, turtles and the giant salamanders
called hellbenders.
For more information, call 888-702-2837 and visit www.canoecountry.com
And,
of course, be sure to stop at the 3000-foot gift shop for trinkets and t-shirts
to take home and the Cave Café for casual dining.
Squire Boone Caverns &
Village
100 Squire Boone Rd. S.W.
Mauckport, IN
812-732-4381or www.squireboonecaverns.com/
Located down a winding dirt
road near the small river village of Mauckport, Squire Boone Village and Caverns
is named after an explorer and woodsman, famed in his day for his exploits in
opening Indiana and Kentucky to settlers. In this rural area near the
Kentucky border, he established a small village with a gristmill and stores.
But while Squire's older brother, Daniel, achieved a lasting fame (and his own
TV show), after his death, Squire passed into the mists of history. Or he would
have, if two spelunkers hadn't discovered his bones in a vast underground cave
that Squire considered to be almost mystical.
Though
Indiana and Kentucky seem like peaceful lands, full of undulating countryside
and endless vistas, back in the late 1700s when the Boone boys first came here,
they were treacherous areas, full of hostile inhabitants resentful of the
invading frontiersmen. Of the first eight explorers to enter Kentucky, Squire
and Daniel were the only two to come out alive and it was Squire who rescued
Daniel.
During
one of his forays into southern Indiana in 1790, Squire, being chased by
enemies, discovered the cave and hid there. Years later, he returned,
started the mill and built a house. Squire asked his children to bury him in
the cave and so they did when he died in 1815. After his bones were discovered
more than 160 years later, a coffin was shaped out of walnut to hold his bones
in one of the cave's vaults.
Because
over a million gallons of water flow through the caverns every day, the walls
of the cave are damp and there is always the sound of rushing water. Narrow winding passageways connect the caves
that comprise the Squire Boone Caverns (note that caves are a natural cavity in
the earth, caverns are a system of caves which are connected by passageways),
stone steps are cut into the sides of the walls leading deeper underground,
through a warren of large and small caves.
The way is lit by softly glowing electric torches mounted to the stone
walls which cast large shadows and give an almost Medieval feel to this deep,
dark tangle of rocks and empty spaces.
Above
ground, watch the mill grind grain into flour, visit the gift shop and enjoy
the feel of a Southern Indiana mill town 200 years ago.
.jpg)
