Marengo Cave

Hello and thanks, once again, for checking out our latest Hoosier Day Trip adventure.   I am REALLY excited about this particular installment of the Hoosier Day Trip blog, because it brings back a childhood memory for me. From the feedback that I have received, at least a couple of you have your own memories, as well.

Recently my son and I took a trip down to Marengo Cave.  Located in Marengo Indiana, in the southern part of the state.  It's about a ninety minute drive from my home in Bloomington.  I had been to Marengo Cave before, around thirty years ago.  Honestly, there was a lot I couldn’t remember about this trip, but I know I had fun . My elementary school class took a trip there when I was around my sons age, nine.  With that amount of time having passed since my first visit, this trip would be, almost, like he and I both discovering it for the first time.

The drive down from Bloomington was pretty easy. I think my iphone took me through a longer route then was necessary, but we weren’t really in a hurry, so we just enjoyed the early spring views.  I have always loved watching the hills grow taller as you drive south. It was also nice to see the trees budding with flowers the further south we drove.

Driving into the town of Marengo, we were both on the lookout for restaurants.  We had passed a lot of fast food places on the way down.  However, we had agreed to wait until we were in Marengo to eat, assuming that a town with a tourist destination would have plenty of options.  We assumed wrong.  We only found three. There was a Mexican spot, a diner-type restaurant, and a pizza place.  We decided on a pizza place named Papenos.  It’s easier to locate the sign for Papenos, than the actual restaurant.  It is located in a mobile home type trailer next to one of the two gas stations on the highway. It is actually called Papenos Pizza and Tanning, because half of the trailer is filled with tanning beds. Despite our initial doubts, the food was excellent and very reasonably priced.

So, now, back to the cave. We actually had to drive PAST the cave, from the direction we were coming from, to get to the gas stations and food.  The entrance to the cave is very well marked and easy to spot. If you find the town of Marengo, you WILL find the cave.

As we pulled into the parking lot, I noticed that it was a lot more crowded than I had expected for a Sunday afternoon. I also immediately noticed the amount of those cars that had out-of-state plates.  All four of Indiana’s border states where there, as well as cars from Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. I doubt many of these families came exclusively to Indiana for the cave, but I still found it encouraging that families from other states were interested enough to make it part of their Hoosier Trip.

After finding a parking spot, I noticed the sign on the fence directly in front of our car, as well as the headstones on the other side of the fence. It was a sign for the Springtown cemetery.  It was one of the first cemeteries in the area, dating to the early 1800’s. Marengo was known as Springtown then, and the land was donated to the city by Samuel M. Stewart, the original owner of the land at the time the cave was discovered. One of the two original discoverers of the cave is buried there. I find the historical aspect of cemeteries very interesting, and normally would have taken a few minutes to walk through, but my son was intent on finding the snack bar, gift shop, and cave entrance, in that order.

Entering the building that houses the snacks, trinkets, and ticket purchases, I found the sign for  “Ticket Sales”  above the cash register.  We walked up and ask about taking a tour of the cave. Marengo Cave actually offers two separate walking tours. One is called the Crystal Palace tour, and the other is the Dripstone Trail tour. They are forty and seventy minutes in length, respectively.  You can purchase a ticket for both tours at a prorated price.  We opted for the longer Dripstone Trail tour. Prices are $7.00 for children and $13.50 for adults for the Crystal Palace tour.  The Dripstone trail is $7.50 for children and $15.00 for adults. They also offer other tours, including canoe tours, walking tours, and out of your way places tours. Check our their website if you are interested in some of these, because several require a two week reservation. You can find their website at www.marengocave.com . In addition to the tours, they also offer gemstone mining, hiking, and picnicking. Check out their site. I am almost sure I have forgotten  to include a few things that you will find there.

Now our tickets are paid for, and we are waiting outside for our guide to start the tour. A couple of things to remember before you go into the cave. First: NO food or drink is allowed inside the cave. This was not a problem for us considering we ate lunch before going, but don’t go hungry. Second: NO bathrooms. What could be worse than getting hungry inside? Well…THAT! You are with a tour of 15 to 20 people. I would hate to be the guy who interrupted the tour for….umm ...not being able to hold it. The bathrooms in the gift shop are located right next to the door where you exit to start the tour, just a helpful reminder.

Speaking of helpful reminders, as you walk out of the door to begin the tour, the gift shop has a sign on the door pointing out that the temperature in the cave is 52 degrees. All year. They also point out that they sell sweatshirts.  Clever marketing while helping guests stay comfortable. Thankfully, we brought our own.

Once the guide started the tour, we walked for about five minutes before our group was at a door in the side of a hill. This is where our tour began.  As we enter the manmade tunnel that leads you into this section of the cave, you could feel the temps drop. As we entered the actual cave, my mind turned to the recent earthquake in Japan.  What goes on in a cave during an earthquake, and could it affect us here if the quake is half way around the world? Yes, I thought of these things. On the drive home, I received a text about a 6.7 quake in Indonesia that occurred WHILE we were in the cave. Nothing was felt in the cave. I am honestly glad this occurred, as it answered my questions about quakes while in a cave.

After the guide started our tour, we were led through a maze of pathways, chambers, and rooms. We saw a lot of different cave formations and natural phenomenon. I will not even pretend that I remember them all, but I did retain the difference in a stelagtite (it holds tight to the ceiling) and a stalagmite (it might reach the ceiling from the floor of the cave.)

There are a couple of final points that I want to point out about the Dripstone Trail tour itself, before I move us back into the gift shop. First, is the penny room, which is one of the few things I could remember about the first trip, I made there thirty-plus years ago.  The penny room is an area of the cave where sticky brown mud has formed on the ceiling.  Children are allowed to throw coins and try to stick them in the ceiling.  All of the money is collected for charity.  I think of it as a caves version of a wishing well. My son had a blast trying to stick coins into the ceiling mud, exactly as I did almost 30 years ago. This was a REALLY cool connection that we shared, as I had told him about me doing it ages ago.

Second, when they shut the lights out, you have NEVER experienced dark like this. There IS NO light for your eyes to adjust to. They could leave the lights off for 30 seconds or 30 minutes. You are not going to make out so much as a shape.  It’s a cool experience that you will quickly be glad is temporary.

So now the tour is over. You exit back up into the gift shop, which is remarkably affordable. You can spend as much as you want, but I was able to satisfy three kids with some trinkets for under five dollars.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, and I hope you will check out our future adventures. We are looking at checking out Blue Spring Caverns soon.

Thanks, and I hope to see YOU on my next Hoosier Day Trip.

                                                            Andrew