Maquoketa Caves State Park

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Gordon Shaffer

Located in Eastern Iowa, Maquoketa Caves offer a very unique experience of hiking a trail of caves. Plenty of parking and no charge. Some caves require crawling into, but most do not. A flashlight or headlight would be helpful at times. There are 15 caves with intertwining paths to see each one. It took us about 3 hours and just 2.5 miles to visit nearly every one. Pick up a map at the Park Store once you've parked. I suggest going on to the first stairs down to middle Dancehall (l) and go underground, emerging across the street at Natural Bridge. Get across the Creek and go the opposite direction on the Woodland Tr. As it loops you will visit 5 caves.. The trail will bring you back to the parking lot & the store. Come over to the other side and descend the same set of stairs. This time go right. Trails on this side will take you all the remaining caves.

Dirk Dingo

A truly beautiful hike filled with caves to explore! There are a total of nine caves, ranging in size from massive walk-through caverns to smaller, single-person passages. Two of the largest caves let you walk straight from one entrance to another, while one of the smaller ones requires squeezing through two tight openings before you can barely stand inside—definitely an adventure! The full hike took us about three hours at a steady pace. I’d recommend bringing a flashlight for exploring, though it’s not absolutely necessary. Between the unique caves and the gorgeous trails, this park is a gem. I’ll definitely be returning to Maquoketa Caves in the future!

Krista Hart

Very cool experience. The trails are well maintained and easy to follow. There are some larger caves that are easy to explore and small ones for more adventurous explorers. We were able to explore almost the whole park within 3 hours. The trails are either raised platform or packed dirt, there is a huge amount of stairs involved. Overall worth the trip to see.

S Tran

This was a stop on an all day drive to get out to see interesting geology and get in a short walk. We did the end to end walk of the Dance Hall Cave. Afterward, we did a short hike around the park to take in all the other smaller caves. No Spelunking for us this time.