Forestville Day 3 - Mystery Cave

Today we’re heading home. After waking up and making what’s left of the bacon, we pack up. We’ve got one more place to see before we turn the truck back north. It’s actually the reason we came to Forestville.

MYSTERY CAVE
The name itself is enough to entice me. I’ve always been interested in going underground to see what wonders have been carved into stone by centuries of dripping water. I’ve been in caves outside Monterrey, Mexico, in Tennessee, South Dakota and Missouri (the Mark Twain Cave). It could have been Mark Twain himself who inspired my love of caves with his book, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” Until recently I had no idea there were two caves in Minnesota. Both are near each other: Mystery Cave is within a 15 minute drive of Forestville State Park off of County Road 5. Niagara Cave is located a little closer to Harmony.

We dressed in pants and long sleeves for our trip underground. The temperature in Mystery Cave is a constant 48 degrees Fahrenheit. We opted for the one-hour tour which is offered between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. every day between Memorial Day and Labor Day. (Tours are also offered on weekends in the spring and fall between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.) The one-hour tour is accessible by wheelchair and stroller. The trail has been paved with concrete and is level. While it took away some of the mystique, it was nice to not have to worry about where my next step was.

I’d like to go back for both the two-hour and Wild Caving Tour. Both are through different sections of the large cave. The two-hour tour is rustic with in-depth interpretation of cave geology, according to the cave brochure. Folks walk on narrow, winding gravel passageways. The only light is the lanterns each person carries. This tour isn’t suitable for children under age five, and sandals are not allowed. The Wild Caving Tour is a real adventure. People crawl and squeeze through the undeveloped portions of the cave. You wear protective gear and spend about three hours underground. You have to be 13 or older to try out this one. Doesn’t it sound fun?

To get to the cave we walked from the visitor center through a picnic ground. In the spring the area floods. The old visitor center was in this area, but floods kept damaging the building. In 2004, the new center was built on higher land. We crossed a bridge spanning the Bend River; much of the water seeps into the cave. Our guide noted that in the summer, the river can all but disappear in this area, coming back south of the cave. Our path led us to a vault door. Our guide opened it with a key. I wondered why they needed to lock it during the day when tour groups are constantly going in and out. This entrance into the cave was dug near a small natural entrance. The natural one was filled in a few years ago a few raccoons found their way inside and damaged some areas.

Mystery Cave is the longest cave in Minnesota with over 13 miles of passageways. Our guide told us that number grows each year as naturalists explore deeper and deeper into the cave.

The cave has been managed by the Department of Natural Resources since 1988. Prior to that it went through a variety of owners. Damage was done to some staglatites and other formations when passageways were deepened. Our guide, a park naturalist, obviously disapproved of such techniques and such work is no longer done in the cave. It took over a year to reopen the cave after the DNR took it over; creating the concrete paths wasn’t an easy and quick task.

Our tour focused on the natural aspects of the cave, including how it was created slowly over time as water dripped down. I wondered how much was fashioned during the flood in Noah’s day. The cave itself reminded me of the Mark Twain Cave in Missouri along the Mississippi River. Most of the formations were muddy and wide. There were but a few thin soda straw (hollow in the center) staglatites. Most were formed by water running down the outside and leaving calcium deposits that slowly widened and lengthened the formations.

We both enjoyed the tour and would recommend it. The baby cuddled deep into her sling, and took a one-hour nap. We’ll bring her back someday when she can appreciate it! I’d also like to tour Niagara Cave and view its 60-foot underground waterfall and wedding chapel. I’ve heard it has a lot of stairs.

ON THE WAY HOME
After stopping in Spring Valley for Subway sandwiches, we continued north on Highway 63 to Rochester. We passed a race track, Deer Creek Speedway, just outside of Spring Valley. It hosts races most weekends. Another place to come back to.

There’s so much to see and do in our great state.

PHOTOS AND ORIGINAL POST AT
http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Minnesota/Root-River---Harmony-Preston-Valley-State-Trail/blog-404666.html

Driving down to Forestville

With a two and one-half month old baby, we knew we couldn't undertake a long road trip for our first anniversary. But I had a hankering to go someplace. My hubby gave me these perimeters: 3 hours or 200 miles. I knew I wanted to go south, having gone north and froze too many times in early summer. I dug out one of my favorite books, "Backroads of Minnesota", and starting reading.

Forestville State Park caught my eye. It sounded like a great place to camp with fun things to do nearby. We could be as busy or as relaxed as we wanted to be. Sounded perfect.

Being a vacation our way, we didn’t get started until mid-morning on Friday, May 29. Baby was fed and ready for a nap right about then. Things didn’t start looking different until we switched from Interstate 35E to Highway 52 in St. Paul. Soon we hit the rolling hills this part of the state is known for. Bluff Country is beautiful this time of year. Newly planted fields were being watered by huge sprawling sprinklers that followed the contours of the hills.

We passed a meat shop that advertised award-winning sausages just north of Cannon Falls. A few miles later we were kicking ourselves for not stopping. Another time, perhaps. (On our way back Sunday, they were closed.)

We stopped for an emergency bathroom break in Zumbrota. Bit of advice: don’t take the first exit into the city. You’ll get nowhere but on a loop back to the highway. And there are no gas stations on that loop until you hit Highway 52 again. Plus the road is bumpy - hard on a full bladder! Stopped already, we decided to eat lunch at the Subway there.

I saw a sign pointing to the one covered bridge left in Minnesota as we drove through town. I need to go back there.

A few miles south of Zumbrota we headed west in Pine Island. My Google map didn’t show the name of the road I wanted to cut west on, so we just took one that looked like it was going southwest. It went southwest all right - for a few miles - then it doubled back north and hit CR 11. Guess the road that went north first wound up going west after all! A few miles later we hit our southern road, CR 57. It led us through Mantorville. What a fabulous little town in the middle of fields in southern Minnesota. I’ve never seen a more beautiful courthouse building! A river runs through the town and there is a park following it. What a perfect place for a picnic. Another place I’m going back to.

ZOLLMAN ZOO
In no time we were at Highway 14, which took us east a few miles to Byron. At the stoplight, we headed north, passing by a fabulously designed high school. At Valleyview, we turned right and then took an immediate left onto CR 105. And we were in Oxbow Nature Park, our first destination. I’d like to go back and camp here some time. It is a great, county-run park. Hiking trails and picnic areas dot the 572-acre facility. There are 29 camp sites, 10 with electricity. The campground has running water, showers and restrooms.

While the hubby napped, I got the baby changed and fed. Then we were off to explore this small zoo. Zollman Zoo is a fabulous place — and it’s free! The place was full of 30 native animals, most of which are permanently injured or on loan from other facilities; they can never be released into the wild. On this Friday afternoon shortly before school let out, several classes were touring through. The enthusiasm of the kids was contagious. They counted out the number of prairie dogs darting up and down. They tried hard to see the badger hiding in his hole — but it wasn’t until they had dashed onto the porcupines that my husband and I caught sight of the shy animals. I loved the cougar and snowy owls the best. My husband was enthralled with the river otters playing in their enclosure. Baby fell asleep, lulled by the walk. We decided to skip the Gordon Yeager Memorial Area, a spacious area with bison, elk, antelope and white-tailed deer.

The zoo was established through the donation in 1969 of native Minnesota animals by John Gilbertson, a regional park warden at the time.

FORESTVILLE STATE PARK
An hour or so later, we were back in the truck heading east to Rochester on Highway 14. In the city, we caught Highway 52 again and proceeded south. In Preston, we headed west on 16, and began seeing signs for Forestville State Park. At 5, we turned left and proceeded south to the park entrance. We opted for the annual park permit as I hope to go camping frequently this year (make up for last year when we didn’t go at all). We paid $20 a night for the site.

There were two horse trailers in front of us when we stopped. I guess this is a popular equestrian park, with many horse trails. There were 3 camping loops to choose from: A, B and C. C is for RVs needing electricity. A and B seemed to be for tents. We opted for A2, a site with a clear view of the Bend River. It was a gorgeous site. We fell asleep to rippling water each night.

There were two drawbacks. One, the fire ring lacked a nice grill. For some reason the tiny grill space was a mere 6 inches from the base of the fire, almost impossible to grill on. Second, the only shower/toilet facility is in the middle of rings B and C. We were stuck with two vault toilets on the end of our loop. I don’t mind outhouses - and the vault design kept it smelling pretty fresh - but I hate not being able to wash my hands.

We also learned that you’re not allowed to bring your own firewood into state parks. A bundle cost $4 and lasted one night.

Our meal that first night was simply delicious. Food tastes so much better when cooked outside. I don’t know why, but it just does. We ate over-the-coals dinner — tinfoil packets stuffed with onions, peppers, potatoes, carrots, califlower and kielbasa. A little seasoning and some butter, and they were ready to hit the fire. Fourty minutes later we were dining like kings.

We had trouble getting our fire going, and were pretty chilly. I don’t think we made it past 9:30 pm that first night. Ah, the blessedness of sleep.

PHOTOS AND ORIGINAL POST AT
http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Minnesota/Root-River---Harmony-Preston-Valley-State-Trail/blog-404666.html