By:
Submission
Park Entrance: Approximately 5 miles south of Wykoff. Entrance to the park is 4 miles south of State Highway 16 on Fillmore County Road 5, then 2 miles east on Fillmore County Road 118. Mystery Cave Entrance is 6 miles south on County Road 5 from State Highway 16. Right-hand turn on 180th street west, 3/4 mile, turn right on Old Cave Road, travel 1/2 mile north. On your left is Mystery Cave Entrance Road.
Signs to get to the right part of the park are fantastic in this area. If you need to get to the cave tours, just plug in the park to get to the general area and follow the signs after that. We took the 2 hour geology tour in the caves with my 8 and 9 yo, and it was a total blast with great information. Well worth the longer tour and slightly higher price. Easy hikes in the park with a great lookout point. Forestville ghost town has 1 hour tours that we really enjoyed to see how people loved during the 1800’s. Perfect family outing day when you do all three!!
We had a great scenic tour! I took my 5 kids and one in a stroller. The pathways are narrow so a double stroller or wide wheelchair will struggle to make it through. The welcome center has a learning center that is interesting for kids and adults. All around a great place with reasonable prices and options for those who want a more hands on cave experience. NO CELLPHONE SERVICE once you drive onto the park so make sure you remember which turns to take on the way out. It is a few minutes drive before cell service returns for GPS.
Stayed at the park, tent camping. The sites are very nice with a fire ring and grill. Bathrooms were clean and easily accessible.
The trail system is nicely labeled and the forest is quiet and tranquil, with bird singing.
The only problems I encountered was the showers do not allow you to adjust the temperature and thus, I had a cold shower in the morning. Also, the bridge to the historical village is out of commission.
We decided to walk around at the main park for a bit before our cave tour. The cave is not at the main park so you will have to drive for about 7 minutes to get from the main park to the cave. The road has large brown signs that indicate where you need to go so even if you don't have the cave address or your GPS doesn't have signal, you can still find the cave by following the signs.
The park was large and I believe I heard some say there are more than 16 miles of trails. Lots of room for campers and tent camping. We also noticed lots of spots in the parking lots of handicap parking.
The historic town area has the bridge blocked off as they are working on repairs and historical preservation so to see the historical town, you'll need to drive to the other side which takes a while from what I saw. We did not end up going since we didn't have a lot of extra time.
Park staff was very helpful and informative.
Mystery cave is a must see, but the rest of the park has little to offer guests except some hiking. The one event that had been scheduled was cancelled, which was disappointing. The bridge was out as well so it is a 20 minute drive to Historic forestville and it was closed and buildings border up. You can self tour if you want, you just can't go in the buildings. Hopefully things go back to normal next year for them. Camp grounds were clean and well maintained.
