Cave of the Mounds, WI

Saturday, May 17th 2008 - Jason Baxter

Location: South-Central Wisconsin Trip Leader: Steph Koenig On Trip: Jason Baxter, Steph Koenig Developed tourist cave in Southern Wisconsin. Interesting because it was protected and developed immediately after discovery. Work in a small limestone quarry broke into approximately the center of the known cave passage in the early 1900's. The owner recognized the high level of interest in the first few weeks, and promptly shut off all access until they could develop the cave for tourism. A few months later the cave opened to tourists. Probably comparable in size with Minnetonka Cave here in UT, but much higher admission cost with proximity to Chicago/Milwaukee/etc. There are some interesting formations for those that haven't visited many caves. Not much I would consider spectacular, but they have set up a few neat things such as strobes to show off photo-luminescence in one area. For those of us that have been in many caves, it is still interesting to see the cave. The part I actually found unique was how much work they had done in order to protect the cave environment. One section of the cave was too small and wet for regular tourist trips. However, it was also some of the most beautiful passage in the cave. So the owners made a tunnel that circled through the bedrock and ended up looking through "viewing windows" into some of this portion of the cave. (Finding a smaller, unrelated passage in the process.) Another item of interest for Utahns. The gift shop had several barrels of geodes for sale. We had been at the Dugway geode beds a week earlier. So we asked where they get their geodes. The employee didn't quite understand the laughter when she said, "If I remember right, way out somewhere like Utah." (For those that haven't noticed already, most of my trip reports are restricted to Grotto Members only. If you are paid member of a UT Grotto you can sign in to see them. Contact site administrator if you have not obtained your own login information.)