There are 18 National Natural Landmarks in Wisconsin. Cave of the Mounds is one of four geological landmarks in our state. Carolynne, Richard, Christy and Nicole Rosenberger went to visit this beautiful area in the summer of 2015. I haven’t been there for a long time and I was pleasantly surprised at the wonderful grounds before I even got into the area of the shops and cave entrance. There are picnic areas, beautiful garden areas, and scenic walking, hiking, and biking trails. The shops contain many kinds of rocks to buy, from fossils to minerals. There are plenty of children’s activities, too. Then, of course, there is the cave. This is truly a natural wonder for Wisconsin. There are no bats in this cave and it is still slowly “growing.” It takes a stalactite about 100 years, or longer, to grow an inch. It is a wet cave. We saw water dripping from the ceiling, running down the walls, and standing in pools along the path. There are all kinds of cave onyx formations to observe. Stalactites, soda straws, stalagmites, helectites, lily pads, ribbons, oolites, and flow stone, are some of the speleothems (formations) that we saw there. Did you know that when stalactites first form they are hollow? This might sound like anad but it really isn’t. As they say,“Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints,kill nothing but time.” Cave of the Mounds is just a really “cool” (50 degrees) place to go on a hot summer day.
Richard Rosenberger
