Last Updated on: 15th April 2025, 11:15 am
Iowa isn’t exactly known for its natural beauty, and the stereotype of endless cornfields as far as the eye can see is largely true. But the state is also home to the stunning Maquoketa Caves State Park which is easily among the finest parks in the Midwest.
Its main highlight is the massive Dancehall Cave at the center of the park, which visitors can traverse from one end to the other. The park also has about a dozen other smaller caves, and trying to find them all is a great way to spend your time here.
Before my visit, I had a difficult time finding concrete information on how to go about visiting Maquoketa Caves State Park, such as which routes to take and how much time it would take to see everything. This guide, therefore, is intended to assist other first-time visitors in the same boat.
After essential visiting tips and a detailed rundown of the main landmarks, you can find more information on reaching the park and where to stay at the very end of the article.
Maquoketa Caves State Park Visiting Tips
HOURS: Located about 45 minutes from either Davenport or Dubuque, Maquoketa Caves State Park is open daily in the warmer months and is free to enter. Apparently, the park closes from mid-October due to bat hibernation.
If you’re visiting on a Saturday or Sunday as I was, you’ll want to get here first thing in the morning, as it can get quite crowded in the afternoon.
NAVIGATION: It’s best to think of the park as being divided into two halves which are intersected by the main road and parking area. You’ll find numerous small caves in both the north and south sections, all of which are numbered and labeled on the official park map. Be sure to grab a free paper copy near the parking lot.
Confusingly, the park’s main landmark, Dancehall Cave, has entrances in both the north and south. So traversing the cave will take you under the main road from one section to the other. Nevertheless, Dancehall Cave is where you’ll want to begin to avoid the crowds.
While I frequently use the AllTrails app, I’d recommend avoiding it for this park. At the time of writing, the app only features a single loop trail for Maquoketa Caves, though it does not indicate where the main landmarks are, and many of which are actually slightly off the trail.
Expect to be able to see all of the main landmarks at the park in 2-3 hours.
WHAT TO BRING: Bringing a flashlight or headlamp (ideally something stronger than a phone) would be ideal. While Dancehall Cave does have some lights installed, most of the smaller caves do not.
Before my visit, I read warnings about potentially getting wet. But from my experience, this would only happen if you fall or if you decide to crawl through some smaller openings on your hands and knees.
Even if you don’t plan on doing that, it would still be wise to wear shoes and pants that you wouldn’t mind getting dirty or muddy.
Exploring Maquoketa Caves State Park
Arriving at the parking area, you’ll find some restrooms along with informational signage about the park’s geology. As mentioned, you should also be sure to grab a paper map of the site and its landmarks, which will be of more use than any app.
Dancehall Cave
Considering how Dancehall Cave is the park’s most well-known attraction, it would be wise to start there to beat the crowds. But how do you find it?
The Dancehall Cave actually has three different entrances, but I decided to start with the Upper Entrance, located to the north of the main road and parking lot.
Not far from the lot, you should find a series of steps taking you down into the valley, after which signs will point you in the right direction.
Note that if you start at the cave’s Upper Entrance, you’ll ultimately exit via the Lower Entrance in the south part of the park.
So if you’d prefer to explore the north part of the park following your visit to the Dancehall Cave, you should actually start your visit by seeking out the Lower Entrance in the southern half.
But this guide will assume you’ve started with the Upper Entrance.
The Upper Entrance is located right across from the Natural Bridge, another of the park’s most famous landmarks. If you’re following this guide in order, you’ll ultimately return to the area to see the bridge from the opposite side.
The stone at Maquoketa Caves State Park is largely lime-rich dolomite that was originally deposited in layers hundreds of millions of years ago. And then much later, Iowa’s land was flattened by the gradual movement of massive glaciers.
And ultimately, when those glaciers melted, the flowing water began eroding the dolomite, as can be seen here at the Dancehall Cave.
Notably, the cave is named as such not just because it’s large, but it was indeed once used to host community dances!
Conveniently, the Dancehall Cave features artificial lighting and concrete walkways. With that said, it can still be dark in certain areas, so you’ll want to bring your own light source.
As I explored, Dancehall Cave seemed to go on and on, with the pathway taking me through twisting and turning corridors. It was quite an experience, and something I hadn’t been expecting from a relatively obscure State Park.
As fun as it is to explore today, the cave actually used to have a lot more stalactites and stalagmites. Sadly, they were destroyed or removed by careless visitors over time.
As mentioned above, if you’ve entered via the Upper Entrance, you should ultimately come out at the southern part of the park which can be rather disorienting at first.
From this point on, there are still over a dozen additional landmarks to explore at Maquoketa Caves State Park.
Around the Southern Section
Near the Lower Entrance of the Dancehall Cave is Balanced Rock, accessible via a flight of steps. But don’t continue heading further up, as all of this area’s landmarks are situated at the lower level.
Not far away is the Rainy Day Cave, which is among the park’s most interesting smaller caves. In contrast to the Dancehall Cave, there are no lights inside, so you’ll be solely reliant on your own flashlight.
The floor is mostly covered in water, while you’ll have to hunch over due to the low ceiling.
Eventually, the only way to keep going would be to crawl on all fours through a small opening. Obviously, you’d end up wet and muddy, so dress accordingly if you plan to explore everything.
In my case, I turned around and continued seeking out the other caves. I continued south, encountering some other narrow caverns and passageways that didn’t have names.
My next destination was the Ice Cave, though this turned out to be the most difficult cave to spot in all of Maquoketa Caves State Park.
Navigating the southern portion of Maquoketa Caves State Park can be quite challenging. Despite there being numerous signs pointing you toward the general direction of certain landmarks, there’s often no information at all once you get closer.
I actually passed the Ice Cave a couple of times during my visit – as did numerous other people I met. It turned out that the cave is atop a fairly steep hill which is very unassuming from the ground.
And it’s not until you’ve ascended the hill that a small sign indicates that it is indeed the Ice Cave.
Stepping inside, I could immediately tell where the cave got its name. Despite being a hot summer day, entering the cave felt like stepping inside a refrigerator.
Coming down, my next goal was to find the Barbell Cave.
At the end of the tranquil forested path, I encountered a wooden flight of stairs taking visitors up to a small and mostly unremarkable cave. Oddly, no signs here indicated that this was the Barbell Cave, though the location did correlate with the spot on the map.
Next, the final landmark to seek out in the southern section of the park was the Shinbone Cave. While the map indicated it was near the Barbell Cave, there didn’t seem to be any proper paths leading one there.
I ended up wandering around quite a bit, backtracking a couple of times and repeatedly checking the signs and maps. Looking back, I never should’ve left the Barbell Cave area.
Despite the lack of an obvious trail, visitors should just walk up the steep dirt hill near the wooden steps.
Further up the hill are a series of small cave openings. But again, no signage whatsoever indicated that this was the Shinbone Cave, and I’m not 100% sure that it really was.
If park management could only add a few more signs to this part of the park, it would save many visitors a lot of both physical and mental effort!
I then followed the trail further uphill, and walked through the forest toward the main road and parking area. On the way there, I passed by yet another cave known as the Wye Cave.
Interestingly, not every cave in this region was formed by water erosion. Some were simply formed by gravity, with rocks falling over time to form larger and larger crevices.
Around the Northern Section
Back at the main road, it was time to proceed toward the northern section of the park – this time skipping, of course, the Dancehall Cave.
Fortunately, this area has much better signage and I had no trouble finding any of the landmarks around here. Just northwest of the Natural Arch is the Window Cave, a tiny yet dark cave that just takes a moment to see.
Coming out, I was able to enjoy a spectacular view of the Natural Arch, with sunbeams shining down onto the ground on the other side. The surreal scene resembled something out of a fantasy movie.
A bit further north is Match Cave, another tiny cave that’s accessible via a set of wooden stairs.
Next, rather than continue all the way north, I headed east for a bit, where I encountered yet another wooden boardwalk, though this one was much longer.
The steps here take you to no less than three different caves. And though you’ll have to backtrack a bit once you’re finished, it’s well worth the detour.
Those coming from north to south will first encounter the Twin Arch Cave which is the most impressive of the three. It’s probably one of the park’s most spacious caves after the Dancehall Cave, but thanks to its large opening, you won’t need a flashlight.
Then there’s Hernando’s Hideaway, which has a small and rather unremarkable opening. While it’s nothing special from the outside, it apparently goes much deeper if you’re up for the adventure.
At the southern end of the wooden walkway is the Up-N-Down Cave, which appears as nothing but a small hole in the wall. I don’t know how they did it, but upon my arrival, I saw a few kids and even a full-grown adult emerge from this tiny cavern! But I wasn’t feeling up for such a challenge.
Hoping to see everything, I backtracked north, but this time via the ground level path. I eventually passed the Dug Out Cave before proceeding to the extreme northeast of the park.
Up a flight of steps is the Wide Mouth Cave. Ordinarily, it seems like a great place to relax and rest your legs. But as it was already afternoon on a summer Sunday, the park was getting quite crowded by this point in my visit, and I decided to move on.
All in all, my exploration of Maquoketa Caves State Park took me about 2.5 hours. While I believe I managed to see every main landmark, one could also spend more time heading deeper into some of the caves.
Looking back, I was very glad to have set half a day aside to see this park, which definitely deserves more attention when discussing the Midwest’s top outdoor attractions.
Additional Info
The only way to reach Maquoketa Caves State Park is by car. The park is about 45 minutes north of the city of Davenport and 40 minutes from Dubuque. It’s also about three hours from Des Moines.
In my case, I stayed the previous night in Davenport and then headed to Maquoketa Caves the next morning. After when finished, I proceeded toward Des Moines. This ended up working out well.
It’s possible to camp at Maquoketa Caves, which you can learn more about here.
As mentioned, the closest major city to Maquoketa Caves State Park is Davenport. One could also base themselves in Dubuque or Galena, Illinois.
I spent the previous night in Davenport at the Days Inn by Wyndham. I had no problems there, and it was just your typical Wyndham hotel experience. Being north of the city center, staying at the Days Inn allowed me to get a head start for the park.
Later in Des Moines, I stayed also stayed at the Days Inn by Wyndham there. Again, the experience was fine but nothing special.
Generally speaking, the cities in Iowa are small (and safe) enough to the point that location isn’t that important as long as you’ll be driving everywhere.