I’ve had two experiences with Florida Caverns State Park. The first one was during a road trip earlier in the year that covered North Florida and Georgia. My buddy had said that we had to hit Florida Caverns so I mapped it and it was right off the highway. We had traveled from Tampa that morning and were heading all the way to Britton Hill, so we could stop at the caverns on the way out or on the way back. We decided to hit it on the way back – mistake number one. After Britton Hill, we hopped back on I-10 heading back east, but decided to stop at Ponce De Leon Springs State Park – mistake number two. After a quick dip there, we left and headed straight for Florida Caverns. Using T-Mobile to guide the way – mistake number three – we ended up lost down a dirt road on the wrong side of the state park. Eventually we found our way to the park, but we had missed the last tour of the day by five or ten minutes.
Dejected, we left the park and met with my buddy’s friend in Tallahassee for dinner at Steak n Shake before driving through the night to get to Georgia. The unfortunate instance of missing the tour of the caverns had sparked us to make sure to get more out of that trip, so it may have been a blessing in disguise, but it also prompted a second road trip. After having a weekend ruined by having to go into work both Saturday and Sunday, the next weekend I decided to stretch into a three day weekend by taking Monday off, so my buddy did the same and we headed to North Florida once more. This time, we made sure to hit Florida Caverns State Park early. We got there around ten and the next tour wasn’t until noon, so we spent some time browsing the park.
While we had only expected to take a quick cave tour and be on our way, we now had a lot of time to spare, so we hit the northern part of the park that had a blue hole for swimming. While we didn’t swim in it, it was certainly impressive. In fact, the whole park was nice from the swimming area, to the canoeing area, right down to the caverns. After stopping by all the other places for photos and videos, we eventually worked our way to the meeting area for the tour. The guide took our group down to the caverns and we began our trek through a wondrous cavern, something one wouldn’t expect out of the lowest, flattest state in the union.
We saw both stalactites and stalagmites, mineral deposits forming a rock spike from the ceiling and floors respectively, much like an icicle made of rock. There were several chambers each with interesting formations of rock and mineral. There were even some pools of water that were so still and colorful they looked like glass. We were careful not to touch any of the formations because the oils from human skin cause the minerals to be unable to stick and the stalactites and stalagmites will no longer be able to grow. There was one formation that the guide pointed out had been touched before and we were all allowed to touch it to see how it feels. It was a combination of wet, kind of like the feeling of touching something slimy, and rough, like a rock that had been worn down, but still had some rigidity left.
We eventually ended the tour and made our way back to the sunlit world filled with hiking paths, forests, and waterways. While the park had a lot more to offer, we had wanted to hit three more places that day, so we decided to leave after the tour and hit the road. The park blew away my expectations and I would love to go back sometime and possibly camp out for the night there. It’s relatively close to a small town, but it’s still pretty far from any major civilization. There’s a lot of land in the park and there’s a lot to do. I’d recommend it to anybody who is interested in the outdoors, especially someone from Florida who may not see things like caverns on a regular basis.
ren3gade 