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Maquoketa Caves State Park, Maquoketa, IA

Photo: Gardner.glen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Sport & OutdoorOutdoor AdventureFamily FavoriteFree

Maquoketa Caves State Park

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.

  • #caves
  • #state park
  • #hiking
  • #camping
  • #natural bridge

Good to know

General sport & outdoor guidance

Habits that pay off across this whole category, not rules for this one venue. Always check the official site for the specifics.

  • Weather calls the shots

    Check the forecast the morning of and keep an indoor backup in your pocket for the day it turns.

  • Shoes, water, sun cover

    The three things that decide whether you last the whole outing or cut it short after an hour.

  • Parking and launches fill early

    On a nice weekend, lots and trailheads are often full by mid-morning.

  • Daylight shrinks in shoulder season

    Spring and fall visits need an earlier start than the same trip in July.

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