Missouri caves

When porous limestone and dolomite come together, they make the Cave State. With more than 7,000 caves in Missouri, there's probably a cave close to where you are now. Discover the depths of this natural phenomenon and its ancient connection to the Ozarks in this cave guide.

Spending the night in a 48-million-year-old cave in the Missouri Ozarks was everything you could imagine it would be. Except for the sounds.

With more than 6,400 recorded caves, including twenty show caves that are open to the public for guided tours, travelers and spelunkers around the world know Missouri as The Cave State.

Roaring River State Park is beloved for its trout fishing but named for its preternaturally turquoise spring, which flows from the base of a towering, U-shaped bluff. At the viewing platform, its shadowy mouth is hauntingly beautiful, dappled with light and the shadows from hanging ferns. On average, the spring produces an unfathomable 20.4 million gallons of water per day.

Marble Cave gets national exposure on the cover of Scientific American magazine. Now called Marvel Cave, Missouri’s deepest known cave has a grand cavern so large that promoters inflated hot air balloons inside to showcase the size of the natural wonder.