One of the things that had drawn my attention to this river / state park area was the promise of a cave accessible only by river. Although I hadn’t found any description other than “it’s obvious from the water”, we managed to find it because the creek coming out was making an obvious waterfall sound. Walking up the ice-cold outlet, we found a slightly developed area with a bridge and a table of concrete. We pushed further in and disturbed some large grey bats which flew close past our heads on their way out of the cave. Each of us had a tiny LED flashlight which was more than enough to make the journey reasonable. We traveled about 100 feet into the cavern, before the room narrowed enough that anxiety over bats overcame any sense of adventure.
Floating / paddling down the rest of the river was comparatively hot since the morning’s nice cloud cover had burnt off, so we tried to move a little faster and soon were back at the state park. We decided to go into town and get provisions before the 3 pm tour of Fisher Cave. While heading into town, the long-awaited rain finally arrived, and we had a good half-hour cloudburst. The parking lot at Fisher Cave was steaming when we arrived for the tour, and the vestibule of the cave where its 57 F air met the outside air was quite a dramatic transition.
This summer’s other cave tours have included two national parks and one commercial park, but no other Missouri state parks, so I didn’t know what to expect. The naturalist leading the tour was knowledgeable and personable without trying to be corny at each turn; possibly our best host yet. The 10 tour guests each got small flashlights to carry and the guide carried a couple that were much more powerful; the cave had no built-in lighting like so many others I’ve visited. In fact, the CCC had built the walkways, railings, and bridges that are still in use some 70 years later. In addition to the beautiful cave formations, we saw one species of salamander.
We drove south and a little west into the Ozarks, eventually stopping at the Round Stone Campground. We found a beautiful spot next to a group of 10 guys in mullets who are getting increasingly louder as the night progressed. Our campfire experience of the previous evening was repeated, and I began to understand why I had never heard of raging wildfires in Missouri. Simply getting paper to stay lit required constant attention. It was just as well perhaps, as the sputtering fire felt very hot against slightly sunburned legs.