The Caves of North Arkansas

The caves we will be covering today are: Cosmic Caverns, Bull Shoals Cavern, Mystic Caverns, Old Spanish Treasure Cave, and War Eagle Cavern. 

Cosmic Cavern is located on Hwy. 21 N. of Berryville. This cave has two bottom-less lakes. Divers have been sent down as far as they could go and dropped lines to find the bottom and it has never been reached. This cave has a year round temperature of 62 degrees and is considered the “warmest” cave in the Ozarks. 

The south lake of the cavern has had trout in it for nearly 50 years. Some of those have gone blind and many have lost their natural coloring. 

You may also see blind cave salamanders at Cosmic Cavern. 

Cosmic Caverns also offer a pavilion for sack lunches, museum, gift shop and gemstone panning.
They offer specials for school groups which includes an Aquifer Study program.

Bull Shoals Caverns is located near Mountain Village 1890. It is surrounded by beautiful cliffs and is close to the White and North Fork Rivers. Outside the entrance to the cave are large, old, cast iron pots that were used by Confederate Soldiers to make gunpowder from the saltpeter they found in the cave. 

Bull Shoals Cavern has a large rotunda that was carved by rushing water. It has layers of smoke damage that have been dated back of 300 B.C. There is a “Liberty Bell” formation that is colored by iron oxide and hematite. Hematite turns black as it gets old and is used for jewelry. 

In one area you can view cracks in the columns that were due to the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812.

Mystic Caverns is located on scenic Hwy. 7 eight miles south of Harrison and five miles north of the Buffalo River.
This cavern has a “pipe organ” and tales of a “spider monkey”. There is an unusual story because there are actually two caves in this location, “Mystic” and “Crystal Dome”. The unusual part is that Mystic was discovered over 100 years before Crystal Dome even though their entrances are only 400 feet apart. The Crystal Dome is home to an 8-story dome.
The year round temperature is a comfortable 58 degrees.