Forestville Mystery Cave State Park is a state park in SE Minnesota. Below ground, the park contains Mystery Cave, the MN’s longest cave. The cave includes stalactites, stalagmites, underground pools, and is a constant 48 degrees. It has over 13 miles of passages in two rock layers. 

Geologic history: About 450 million years ago sedimentary rocks were deposited as the land was intermittently covered by shallow seas that transgressed and regressed. Over time, lots of time, deposits of mud and oceanic debris were compressed to form limestone, shale, and sandstone layers. Today these layers are 1,300 feet above sea level. Within the last 500,000 to 1,000,000 years flood waters dissolved along fractures in the limestone bedrock to create most of the cave. Acidic rainwater also sculpted the land around the cave, creating thousands of sinkholes and other karst features. 

We initially went to Forestville last year with the Brophy’s camping. While there we did the standard cave tour but found out that they have a more adventurous excursion called the Wild Cave Tour. It’s a “strenuous and very physical tour”. It includes 3-4 hours of climbing, crawling, stooping, and stretching, to traverse the cave. While there, Tim, David, and I (Jen was a hard NO) said we were doing it in 2022. 

As 2022 arrived, I kept an eye on when the tours came online for the new season and got us signed up for a Saturday that we all had available. The tour takes up to 5 people -since we had 4 people already, we started looking for a fifth. Unfortunately, no one wanted to go…. 🤷‍♀️ I get it. I’m unusual for most/some women in that while I like to get all “dolled” up for some things, I also like to do challenging, adrenaline activities-except bungee jumping- no way am I doing that.