Meramec Caverns
Sullivan, MO · Missouri Ozarks$$
Cut into the Ozark hills outside Sullivan, Meramec Caverns runs more than four and a half miles through seven levels of limestone, and the formations earn the billboards: the…
Caves
Fantastic Caverns
About
This is the one cave in North America you tour entirely from your seat, riding a propane Jeep-drawn tram down the bed of an ancient underground river for about a mile. The route runs beneath a low canopy of stalactites, soda straws, and cave coral past the Hall of Giants, a pair of massive columns named in 1867 by the twelve women who first explored here. A hunting dog found the opening in 1862, and the air stays a steady 60 degrees while the headlamps catch mineral pearls in the still pools below.
Highlights
America's only completely ride-through cave tour55-minute propane Jeep-drawn tram along an ancient underground riverbedHall of Giants columns named by twelve women explorers in 1867Soda straws, cave coral, and mineral pearls in still poolsSteady 60-degree air year-round
