Planning a Family Trip to Maquoketa Caves State Park
When you think of Iowa, you likely don’t find yourself yearning to plan a family trip to this corn-producing, fly-over state. Iowa doesn’t seem like an intriguing destination for family fun, but today, I’m going to prove you wrong! Here’s everything you need to know to plan a successful family trip to Maquoketa Caves State Park. This post is especially great for camping families.
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Where is Maquoketa Caves State Park?
Maquoketa Caves State Park is Iowa’s most popular state park, and for good reason! It’s located on the eastern side of the state, kind of in the middle of nowhere near Maquoketa, Iowa. It’s conveniently located about a half an hour away from the Mississippi River town of Bellevue, Iowa.
Why did we decide on Maquoketa Caves State Park in Iowa?
Visiting the Maquoketa Caves has been on my bucket list for a few years now. I knew it’d be a great adventure for our family, so I added it to our Summer 20204 – Big Picture Calendar! Once we figured out dates, I started planning a family trip to the Maquoketa Caves State Park for our big family summer trip. As I was planning our trip, I didn’t find a ton of information on the interwebs, specifically for families, so I hope this is a great resource for others!
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- Family photo in Ice Cave!
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- Dance Hall Cave
There are many great state parks in Iowa, but this one intrigued me because it was in a part of the state we haven’t explored much and because of the caves (obviously)! I also love the fact that this state park is only a few hours away from our home (in central Iowa), and it’s a great size for exploring as a family with kids from 2 – 7 years old.
What is the draw to the Maquoketa Caves State Park?
As I mentioned earlier, this state park kind of sits out in the middle of rural Iowa, so there isn’t much around. That being said, you can likely guess that the main draw for visitors to Maquoketa Caves State Park are the caves themselves. Yes, they are really that cool! Many outdoor and cave enthusiasts will love exploring this park with about six miles of hiking trails to explore. After visiting and seeing the park firsthand, it’s hard to believe these natural wonders exist in Iowa.
Where to stay on your visit to Maquoketa Caves State Park?
I looked around quite a bit for campgrounds in the area near Maquoketa Caves, but didn’t have much luck. There are a couple campgrounds that are privately owned, but I didn’t think any would be a great fit for our family. We settled on the Maquoketa Caves State Park Campground, and I’m so glad we did.
This is a great campground for families. It’s smaller, has well-shaded and spacious sites, and is conveniently located right next to the State Park. There are no full-hookup campsites at this time, but there is a dump station and hydrants conveniently located throughout campground. The bath-house was just okay…we did not find them to be very clean when we were there, unfortunately.
On a positive note, we loved that they keep a fee-will donation wood stockpile for campers! I also loved seeing a Free Little Library on-site, as well as a Free Activity Library that was stocked by the Maquoketa Caves State Park Naturalist!
The main road through the campground is paved, which is the perfect environment to work on biking and scooter skills for the kids. This is a quick turnover campground, which is kind of fun to watch if you stay for any length of time. We camped from Sunday – Friday, and saw a ton of the sites turnover in our time there.
Other Resources for Planning Your Trip:
If you’re not planning to camp, you might look at the Maquoketa Chamber of Commerce website for other lodging options. The Iowa DNR website is another great resource to get you started with you planning.
What to do in the area?
There are a couple of stops I would recommend for those visiting the Maquoketa area:
Dining
First up is the unique dining experience at Bluff Lake Catfish Farm! This is a rural restaurant, just down the road from the Maquoketa Caves State Park. It is only open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Bluff Lake is very popular (30,000+ on Facebook), so be prepared to wait when you arrive.
There is plenty to do while you wait, though! We took a walk around the property, fed the catfish (lots of catfish!), and took a gander in the gift shop. The food was awesome, and we’d highly recommend their specials. We arrived on a Sunday, so that’s the day we went. The fried chicken and shrimp were the best we’ve ever had!
We ended our trip eating at Copper Cardinal Pizza Pub, and it was also delish! Eric and I split pizza – half Couch Potato, half Buffalo Chicken – and it was very good. The kids enjoyed their kids meals. Then we each got ice cream for dessert (kids meals get a scoop for free), and I think I had the best cookie dough ice cream I’ve ever had. The kids got the Superman flavor, and it was also delicious… tasting much like creamy fruit loops, but not too rich.
Visiting Bellevue
When you’re near the Mississippi, you’ve got to find a good river town to visit! We ventured over to Bellevue, Iowa one day and enjoyed hiking the Bellevue State Park, checking out the beautiful butterfly garden, and the campground! Side Note: Are you really camper if you don’t drive through all the campgrounds when you’re visiting other places to see if they’d be good camping spots?!
There are some great river lookouts in the area, as well as beautiful river homes. You can tell there is a lot of history in these towns. While in town, we stopped to eat at La Casa de Pancho (there is also a location in Maquoketa). It was pretty good, not the best mexican we’ve had. Afterwards, we stopped in to The Book Worm Bookstore & More. This is a fun little store, with something for everyone! We got a couple small tubes of Plus Plus blocks for the big kids, a Water Wow coloring book for our youngest, and a small decorative sign for Mama!
Other spots I’d like to check out
Check Naturalist Hikes/Tours
As an added benefit of camping at the state park campground, we got a fun email a few days prior to our arrival from the park Naturalist! She hosted a short hike from the campground into a lesser known area of the park where we all enjoyed a picnic lunch (she graciously brought brownies for dessert!). After that, we went on a longer guided tour/hike with her to a few of the caves in the park. It was really fun and great way to learn more about the caves and the park in general.
Spelunking
If you visit the Maquoketa area, you’re likely there for the caves! Definitely plan to have a few hours to explore the 13 caves in the state park. It is so fun to hike and explore here with kids! I would highly recommend getting headlamps for exploring the caves.
For more information and tips specifically about the caves, definitely check out this post!
Okay, that covers everything you’ll need to start planning your family trip to the Maquoketa Caves State Park! But wait, there’s more… I decided to break up the great amount of information into a few different posts. You can visit this blog post with 5 great tips for a successful trip to the Maquoketa Caves State Park for Families. And if you’re looking for tips for family camping in general, I’m sharing a few of those in this blog post.
Happy Planning!
Mackenzy
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