Monday, July 15, 2019, Ozark Caverns, Ozark Lake State Park, Osage Beach, MO

The forecast today was for rain so we thought it would be a good day for caving. Ozark Caverns was only about a mile (as the crow flies) from our campsite at Lake of the Ozark State Park (in Brumley, MO) but since it was on the other side of the lake it was about a 30-mile drive. The drive actually went quicker than expected so we had to wait a while for the 11:00 am tour. We explored the exhibits explaining how the caves were formed and talked about traveling with some nice folks who were waiting on the same tour. There are 6,400 caves in Missouri which makes it understandable why Missouri is known as "The Cave State."

I spent some time trying to capture the hummingbirds that were flitting about the many feeders outside the visitor's center. They were so fast I pretty much snapped the shutter and then checked to see if I caught anyone in the frame. I was lucky with a few shots below.

There were only 8 people on our tour with Ranger Callie leading. Callie was very excited about caves and bats and it showed. She was well informed and made the tour quite enjoyable. Sadly their entire population of cave bats had been killed by white-nose syndrome.

The downside to the tour was that we could take absolutely nothing in the cave other than what we were wearing. Cameras, keys, wallets and anything else in our pockets had to be removed and locked up until we returned. With no camera, of course, we have no pictures inside the cave. I was also a bit dismayed to find the cave had no lighting other than what we would carry with us. We were each given a small rechargeable lantern that I cannot say provided enough light for my liking. They were certainly not what I would have chosen to explore a cave. The light was not directional and probably reached no more than 5 or 10 feet. So off we went with weak little toy lanterns by our sides, for an hour underground. I do wish we had thought ahead about a jacket or some long pants - caves can be a little cool after a while (it was a constant 56 degrees throughout the cave.) That sounds like a lot of downsides, but obviously, we survived and enjoyed our tour.

It was an active cave with a lot of water still creating stalactites, stalagmites, straws and curtains. The caves most impressive feature was "Angel Showers" which rained many gallons of water per minute into a feature they named the bathtub for obvious reasons. The picture below, hanging in the welcome center, was the only photographic memory we have of our spelunking adventure.

An unusual "shower-head and bathtub" formation called Angel Showers. Anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 gallons of water a day cascades from the cavern ceiling through thousands of straws landing in a calcite "tub" formation. Only fourteen of these formations are known to exist.

In several places the cave was so tight you had a difficult time turning your head and there was quite a bit of ducking required along the way. Ranger Callie found a couple examples of cave life on our tour including a frog that must have wandered in and lost its way out. Fortunately, nothing felt the need to crawl on me or there might have been a lot of screaming and a complete freakout!