Four Must-See Caves Near Rochester

Calling all adventure seekers! Here's a fun day trip that everyone in your family will love! Growing up, my parents worked for our family business which is a sand and gravel mine. So anytime we were on vacation, we would go check out gold mining caves and we thought they were so cool. Now the caves I'm about to talk about aren't gold mines, but they are cool adventures that are also educational. If you are scared of the dark, these might not be the adventures for you! Rochester's Mom Blog put together a list of some of the best lakes to check out this summer.

Quarry Hill Caves have an awesome experience for all ages of the family. The cave located on site dates back to 1882 and has a lot of history that goes along with it. Each tour, you'll have a nature guide that'll help you along the way and show you the ropes. If you have a Quarry Hill membership, the tour is free. If not it's $2 for adults and $1 for kiddos.

Next is Niagara Cave in Harmony, Minnesota. If you are looking for a short road trip, these caves are located an hour south of Rochester. According to the Rochester Moms Blog, you have to go down some narrow steps into narrow caves before you get to see all the cool things the caves have to offer. Not only can you check out the caves on a guided tour while you are there, but they also have picnic spots and mini golf to entertain you after the one hour tour. General admission for an adult is around $16 and for kiddos it'll cost around $10. From Niagara's Facebook page, it looks like it's a fun little day trip! I'm definitely going to go check them out.

Another cool set of caves is the Forestville Mystery Caves in Preston. If you don't have a state park pass, you'll need to get one before going on this adventure. I haven't got mine yet, but I'm planning on getting it soon. The article says there are around 13 miles of caves, but you have to have a guide to explore them. There are four different tours you can choose from based on what you want to see and learn. They have a geology tour, a flashlight tour and they even have a tour where you'll crawl down into small holes to check out the deepest parts of the cave. The tours range from $15-$80 a person but sound like loads of fun.

Last but not least is Crystal Caves in Spring Valley Wisconson. I was shocked to find out that this is only about an hour away from Rochester! According to the Rochester Moms Blog, these caves are opened April through October. They offer three tours that range from $9.98 for kids to $29.98 for adults. The tour I want to go on is the evening lantern tourn. You get lanterns and explore the caves well into the night. While adventuring, you'll see different parts of the caves and see different creatures.

All tours ask that you reserve your spot before going because there's limited space available. These fun day trips allow you to see different parts of our beautiful state that you might not see if you were just out and about walking around.

Paisley Dunn is on Quick Country 96.5 Monday- Friday from 3pm-7pm