As part of our Spring 2022 Tour, we stopped in a Maquoketa Caves State Park. We arrived from Marble Beach State Park where the weather was quite chilly and a little breezy. Here the temps were in the upper 80’s and into the 90’s. It felt like Summer had kicked in. I was able to test out the changes I made to the AC units and they performed great.
The weather on the journey over to the area was a very sturdy South wind so our top speed was about 45 MPH. It took us 8 hours to make the trip. Once we settled into our camp spot, the wind completely shut off. That’s just the kind of luck that I have.
The camp sites were very nice. We had 50 AMP service and plenty of shade. The campground seemed very small for as popular of a place as it is. The crew were busy clearing trees and grinding stumps while we were there. There’s no water or sewer at the sites but there are places to fill up within the campground (like most other Iowa State Parks) and I was able to connect to water from my site using my handy dandy hose reel.
There’s also a trailhead from the campground to the main attraction. It’s not easy to find from the campground but if you walk out past the dump station and turn left, you’ll find it. The cave trails are very nice. I enjoyed early morning hikes before it good super hot and also before all the bus loads of kids showed up. The early morning sun-rise hikes are just amazing.
The trails take you to all the caves and I visited each one. I did not venture into all the caves. It was just a joy to follow all the trails for me. When you cross under the parking lot the temp went from a hot and sticky 80 degrees to about 50 in just a few short steps. It felt very refreshing for as hot as it was.
I took my 360 camera with me on my hikes and snapped some photos. I am still working on organizing the photos and uploading them to this page. Check back often to see the updates. Watch for the little arrow icons to advance down the trail (like Google Maps).
Previous stop was Marble Beach – Next stop on the tour is Lake Wapello State Park.