Ozark Caverns (Lake of the Ozarks State Park)

Most of Lake of the Ozarks State Park is coves, beaches and trails. Its cave is the quiet part. Ozark Caverns is a drained conduit. In the Ozarks, water seeping through cracks in limestone and dolomite widens them into flooded tunnels, part of an underground drainage system, and when the surface valleys cut deeper the water drains away and leaves air-filled passages. A guided walk of about half a mile round trip, lasting about an hour, goes through one of them, past soda straws, helictites and stalagmites. The set piece is Angel Showers, a steady fall of water that seems to come straight out of the solid ceiling.

The sediment banks keep claw marks left by animals that sheltered here thousands of years ago. Four species of salamanders, four of bats and sixteen of invertebrates live in the cave, four of the invertebrates never leaving it, and the blind grotto salamander sometimes shows itself on tours. To protect the bats from white-nose syndrome, purses, backpacks, strollers and other accessories stay outside.

Above ground, the self-guiding Coakley Hollow Trail, a mile long, starts and ends at the caverns lot and crosses a glade, a fen and an Ozark spring branch, with spring wildflowers in season. The cave holds at 56 degrees, so a light jacket is worth carrying even in August.