This past summer the family decided on a quick day trip from our Chicago suburban home to something fun and educational north of the Illinois border. We focused our sights on Cave of the Mounds in southwestern Wisconsin. Cave of the Mounds is located about twenty minutes west of Madison just off U.S. Highway 18 or 151 in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin. We enjoyed the two hour road trip as we took more of a rural back road route exploring the hilly countryside driving past cheese shops and microbreweries in Green and Dane counties.
The park is easy to find when exiting off highway 151 as the signage takes you to the parking lot and to the Cave. We noticed the parking lot was quite full upon arrival, so we anticipated this tour to be something worthwhile as the public interest seemed to be substantial.
As soon as we parked, we put on our jackets and descended down the short trail to the visitor center to purchase our cave tour tickets. The tour runs on the hour and we just missed a session so we purchased tickets for the next hourly tour. We had a bit of time to burn so we wandered the nearby grounds and gift shop. The gift shop actually had some fun educational toys and gemstones for kids to peruse. Just outside of the gift shop, there was a sluice for kids to try and pan their treasures.
The Tour
After the hour long wait, we returned to the gift shop which is where our tour group met. We followed our guide into a small theatre. The guide introduced himself to the group, cracked a few jokes, and then played a short documentation of the geological formation of the cave. The movie was informative and provided some interesting facts about the geologic processes that led to the cave formation. For those that plan on going on the tour, it is a good idea to really pay attention to the movie as that was a challenge on our part due to our infant son sobbing during the movie and distracting our attention from the screen.
After the movie and my son’s tantrum session, the guide led us from the movie room into a passage that is the cave entrance. We descended quite a few steps and were at the mouth of the cave. The park did a fantastic job of lighting up the cave as there was really spectacular cinema lighting throughout the different cave rooms lighting up many stalagmites and stalactites. The guides have switches throughout the cave that they will turn on throughout different areas. The tour allowed some really great photos of some really amazing limestone formations. The guides could not stress enough for people to refrain from touching walls or formations.
Besides being really fun, the cave does throw the elements of darkness and coldness at the visitor. The cave will creep down to a damp fifty degrees so bring a jacket or sweatshirt for all. This is probably the last item most families would consider bringing on a hot humid summer day. The sweatshirts paid off the minute we descended into the cave. Also keep in mind when going on the tour to stay at the middle or front of the tour pack if your little ones are afraid of the dark. Our family straggled towards the back of the group during the beginning of the tour and we had pitch darkness behind us. My four year old son was quite spooked by the darkness and headed towards mom up front.
The Guide
The tour guide was a young college student from the University of Wisconsin. He was a lively guide that liked to occasionally tell some funny cave humor jokes. He was very adamant about people understanding the formation and being able to get adequate pictures of different cave formations. He was a good sport in answering questions that people had repeatedly asked.
Price
The cost of the cave tour is $14.00 for adults and $7.00 for children over the age of 4. The younger children are free of charge. The prices were fair in my opinion as the kids were entertained for about an hour and we were able to snap some really great pictures for our summer scrap book. I think the children enjoyed the lit up caves and seeing real life stalagmites and stalactites outside of a Scooby Doo cartoon. I would put the price as being fair considering everything involved.
Park
The Cave of the Mounds is truly a splendid site to behold, though the surrounding grounds are also worthy of exploration. When visiting the site, I recommend a stroll through the hiking trails and throughout the gardens above the visitor center. If planning the trip ahead of time during the warm weather months, bring a picnic lunch with you to allow a longer stay.
Amenities
The park boasts the large cave per paid admission as well as a gift center, visitor center, and sluice. The gift center is chock full of gemstones and interesting earth treasures for kids to enjoy. The visitor center offers up restrooms, ticket sales, and concessions. If time allows, kids can purchase a bag of “excavated” soil to pan in the sluice table outside the gift shop.
