Maquoketa Caves State Park — Attraction in Maquoketa

Anazing place to go caving! If youre tall like me id suggest kneepads and a helmet/hardhat. Bring good shoes/boots with lots of grip, gloves are a great thing too. Headlamps are strongly recommended as you'll need light in most caves and a lot of climbing is involved. If youre looking for rock climbing they do not allow it. The caves themselves are well lit (for the ones that are), the only problem id have is with the tunnel like passage to the dancehall. At one of the corners (theyve built a concrete path all through it as not to step in the water), the path goes under a section that juts out and makes it difficult to not fall into the underground river. . The campgrounds here are pretty great although a bit far from the small parking lot. A larger lot for parking would be awesome, and maybe more campsites closer to the lot. . The bathrooms within the campsites are not flush toilets (as another review states, those are the parks bathrooms near the caves), they infact are outhouse style restrooms. When i went there all of them were nearly full and ours was full of mosquitoes. The solar lights within them are awesome and very helpful for finding it in the night when nature calls. . As for the perimeter of the camp coyotes were able to come within our camp had they chosen too. I saw barbed wire fencing in some locations but not all. Definitely would keep small pets in carriers if camping with them and keep an eye on small children. . When rain happens to drop by the ground is more of claydirt than dirt, so rubber boots and clothes you dont mind getting dirty are recommended. Especially in the caves. . Overall, I know this is a long review, it was a great trip and definitely will be visiting again...

Absolutely loved the caves! It was a beautiful view and the area was very well maintained! The campsite was equally as clean and it was easy reserving a spot! They had lots of firewood and clean bathrooms with showers.

Things to be aware of:

these are not beginner trails, probably mid level. There were quite a few places that you had to climb to continue on the trail. Most of the caves had stairs to reach the entrance and if you go in the caves there are places you will need to crawl.

get a tour if you can, I talk more about how difficult it was to understand the map later in this review

if you go without a tour make sure to bring a portable charger, lots of water, and snacks. Many of the forks in the trail aren't marked and it's easy to get lost. I didn't have any connection for most of the hike.

the campsite fills up quickly! I tried to make a reservation in the beginning of June and every Saturday was taken up to the end of August. You'll most likely need to pick a week day or Sunday.

The only reason I gave 4 stars is because of the map. Several other hikers agreed with me that it was very difficult to understand. My bf and I got lost 3 times and ran into several others who were lost as well.

We wanted to take a short trail since my bf has hip and knee problems and didn't want to do the whole hike in one go. We took what we thought was the short one but ended up on the long one and I think we actually made it to every single trail because we got so lost. I think it would really help if there were more signs especially at the forks in the trails.

Other than that we had a great trip and enjoyed seeing all the caves and overall had a...

🫵If you are out in the area or passing by on your way somewhere this is a great 1 days stop. Even better if you 1 day is not Saturday or Sundays.

🛻There is parking for about 100 cars but while we were here we never saw more than 12 cars

There are 13 caves🦇 that are easy to walk to and if you're willing to get a little dirty, they are fun to crawl into. 🛁🧼🧽Just please clean your clothes and shoes so you don't spread any nasty bat diseases.

There are restrooms that are very well used but not well cleaned or taken care of. This is a huge health risk so use at your own risk. We found the park to be dog friendly as long as your dog is on a leash, is well behaved and if you pick up after your dog since nobody wants to step in your dog crap. If you can't do those things keep you dam dog at home, everyone should call you out and call park officials.

🥾We enjoyed hiking and navigating the caves as we explored the park and recommend this as a 2 night RV or camping stop.

There are 28 camp sites in this state park and 23 have power, 5 have no hook ups at all. There is a dump station and water fill spigots but no water and sewer hook ups.

The camp host is never here and kinda sucks at camp hosting, the state should check in on these hosts or get new ones.

The spots on the back are much more private unless the tent does are over crowded and have a party going on. The spots in the front have more sun for solar or Star link but are so close to the first road you will be covered in dust or mud with in a few hours. There is no Wi-Fi in the park but our Verizon signal was useable.

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