From the surface, Missouri’s Onondaga Cave State Park looks like many other woodland parks across the country. But appearances can be deceptive. Below the surface lies one of the country’s most impressive caves.
“You’d never believe it was right here in the middle of the woods,” Maria Potter, the park’s superintendent and natural resource manager, tells The Buzz. “Onondaga Cave has big open rooms, highly decorated with stalagmites, stalactites and other speleothems - it’s really magnificent.”
The cave, which began forming millions of years ago and stretches for miles beneath the surface, was discovered in 1886. In 1980, it was named a National Natural Landmark due to its unusually large and varied number of speleothems, which have acquired descriptive names such as Devil’s Bathtub, Queen’s Canopy and the Twins over the years. In 1982, it became a state park, one of three in the Missouri system to offer cave tours.
Maria says her favorite spot is one of the more unusual formations - the Lily Pad Room. “The dissolved stone falls into a pool there, and formations that look like lily pads grow on the surface,” she says. “It’s pretty uncommon and the shelfstone that form are gorgeous.”
State park guides offer tours of Onondaga from April through the end of October. Potter says the tours take about an hour and a half and cover about one mile round trip. The cave is not technically ADA accessible, she says, “but there are no steps, just ramps. We let people decide if they want to try it.”
But the Onondaga Cave is not the state park’s only underground attraction. About a third of a mile up Deer Run Trail lies the entrance to Cathedral Cave, another ancient formation. “It formed differently than Onondaga Cave, and is actually larger overall,” Maria says. This cave features two huge rooms - the Octopus Room and the Big Room, one of the largest underground chambers in the state park system, as well as the Cathedral, a 25 ft. high, 15 ft. wide, 10 ft. thick column otherwise known as the Liberty Bell.
Ramp way for tours inside the big cave [Photo/Missouri State Parks]
Unlike Onondaga, which has electric lights, Cathedral Cave is explored using flashlights. Tours, offered mid-May through mid-October, last about two hours, including the time spent hiking to the cave and back. The park sells tickets for individual tours of the caves as well as a combo ticket that includes both.
Not all of Onondaga Cave State Park’s attractions are below ground. Three trails on the surface lead to overlooks of the Meramec River, through glades of Chinkapin oaks and to a waterfall that flows from Onondaga Cave’s Lost River. About 7 miles away by road, another section of the park, the Vilander Bluff Natural Area, has another trail that leads to the top of the tallest cliffs along the Upper Meramec. The area is home to a stand of ancient red cedars and a rookery containing over 40 great blue heron nests.
Other activities in and near the park include canoeing, biking and swimming at nearby swimming holes along the Meramec. Although the park does not rent canoes, it has both a canoe launch and a boat ramp on the property. Some people travel by boat downstream to see the Vilander Bluffs from the river.
Fishing on the Meramec (a Native American name for catfish) is popular as well, with bluegill, crappie, drum, smallmouth bass and, of course, catfish among the common catch. Gigging for hogsuckers, an old Ozark tradition, is a popular activity on fall evenings.
The state park’s campground offers 66 campsites, including 47 with electric and water, and 19 dry sites, all with concrete pads. There are also two sets of unusual family campsites, with two adjacent pads that can be reserved together for a reduced fee. “The family sites are super popular,” Maria says. “Families will meet here for a reunion vacation.”
Every Saturday, April through October, park naturalists conduct evening nature programs in the campground amphitheater. “We cover a wide variety of topics,” Maria says. “We do programs on mushrooms, bear awareness, our resident bats, and other unique species that call the park home. A favorite is the Ozark hellbender, an endangered species of salamander that’s found only in this region.”
The park’s visitor center contains exhibits on the flora and fauna found in the park, the formation of the caves, and Onondaga’s long history as a tourist attraction. The cave, named after the Onondaga Iroquois tribe, became a popular rail excursion destination in 1904, during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.
The cave’s rich history, which includes several eccentric rival owners, is showcased during the historical lantern tours held annually in July. The tours, which feature costumed guides recounting episodes in the cave’s history, are among the numerous events organized and hosted by the Onondaga Friends Association (OFA). Other annual events include paranormal adventures, photography tours, hummingbird banding and off-trail cave explorations. The OFA also can arrange wedding ceremonies in the caves.
Maria Potter is a fan of Onondaga’s most popular annual event - the Cool Cave Music evening held on an always steamy Saturday night in August. The OFA brings in groups playing different musical genres each year.
Last year, Maria says, the group, Autumn’s Child, featured a musician playing a Native American flute. “The sound of the flute was incredibly haunting,” she said. “The acoustics in the big room are amazing. It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.”
Onondaga Cave State Park is one of several parks featuring cave tours in Missouri, known as the Cave State, thanks to the more than 6,000 caves discovered there, mostly in the Ozarks region. A trailhead for the Ozark Trail, with over 300 miles completed so far, lies just across the Meramec River. Onondaga also lies close to the route of Historic Rt. 66, and many summer travelers on the old highway take a break at the park to cool off.
It’s no secret why Onondaga Cave is such a popular destination, especially in the summer. Maria Potter says the caves remain a constant temperature of 57 degrees F. year round. “You need to bring a jacket,” she says. “It’s natural air conditioning.”