Maquoketa Caves State Park

Maquoketa Caves State Park is an outdoor activity in Maquoketa, IA. Cost: free. Caves closed November 15 through April 1 to protect overwintering bats.

9688 Caves Rd · Maquoketa, IA

Why you should go…

This park in Iowa's Driftless Area holds more caves than any other Iowa state park. A six-mile trail system links about 13 caves, including Dancehall Cave, which runs 1,100 feet into the bluff, plus a 50-foot Natural Bridge over Raccoon Creek and a 17-ton Balanced Rock. Some caves you can walk through, while others suit spelunkers ready to crawl through tight spaces. Stone shelters built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s still stand, and there is a campground.

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#state park
#hiking
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#natural bridge

What's around here?

The closest stops to Maquoketa Caves State Park, ordered by straight-line distance.

Sightseeing
Quirky Fun
Fenelon Place Elevator
Under $25
Ride a tiny funicular cable car 189 feet up the bluff for views of downtown Dubuque, the Mississippi and three states.
27 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing
Museums
Family Favorite
National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium
$25–$50
Watch sturgeon, river otters and rays in more than a dozen aquariums, then see a historic Mississippi River steamboat dredge.
27 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums
Sightseeing
Iconic
Field of Dreams Movie Site
Free
Walk the baseball diamond cut into an Iowa cornfield for the 1989 film and tour the original farmhouse.
30 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing
Attractions
Quirky Fun
Iowa 80 Truckstop
Free
Browse a huge trucker's store, eat at several restaurants and see antique rigs at the free trucking museum off I-80.
34 mi awaySwitch it up: Attractions
Sightseeing
History Buff
Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
Free
Tour Herbert Hoover's two-room birthplace cottage, a blacksmith shop, a Quaker meetinghouse and the Hoover gravesite.
43 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing
Museums
History Buff
National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library
Under $25
See galleries on Czech and Slovak history and immigrant life, a large collection of folk dress, and a Prague-style astronomical clock.
46 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums