Ledge View Nature Center is a 105-acre park and interpretive center. It is located two miles south of Chilton, Wisconsin. The facility is part of the Calumet County Parks system operated by Calumet County.
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The facility and staff that were on duty at the time of my recent trip (June 1st, 2019) was extremely satisfactory. I had a party of seven out of eleven on that day’s cave tour, and we called to tell them we would be about ten minutes late due to the weather. They were very professional and kind, and they waited for us.
My major problem is the lack of preparatory guidelines on the website for the cave tours. On Carolyn’s Caverns and Mother’s Cave tours “things to bring list,” if one could call it a list, the website (which is poorly put together and has spelling errors), people are told to bring flashlights and dress in layers. THAT’S IT. The site warns that Mother’s Cave is all crawling, but what it doesn’t say is that Carolyn’s Caverns is 75% crawling through small tunnels! Larger individuals cannot fit through these tunnels! Only short people can crawl on their hand and knees through the tunnels and everyone else has to low crawl, meaning get on their stomach, let their legs be fully on the ground, and use their arms to drag themselves along the ground. As we prepared to take the walk towards the caves, we watched the guide don thick gloves, knee pads, and what appeared to be a snowsuit and rain boots. Wow. Everyone got all scraped up, bruised and was freezing, even with thick sweaters on. The website ruined this for everyone in my group because all it would take is to tell us to bring more stuff so that we aren’t dragging ourselves through mud filled with sharp rocks and cutting our hands and backs and knees on the low ceilings of tunnels in the “caverns.”
Also, the facility was full of live animals! I didn’t see the need for live animals inside of glass tanks and ponds in the building just for show. They did not need rehabilitating, to my knowledge, and they did not have signs saying that they were there for rehabilitation purposes. As a wildlife preservation location, I have hopes that they would keep the live animals outside where they belong.
Robin, thank you for being patient with the kids in our group and being an amazing tour guide. You’re awesome, knowledgeable and very kind. We enjoyed having you as our leader, and despite my poor review, knowing what we know now, I’m coming back with more adults next time there’s a Mother’s Cave tour to brave the crawling with the...
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We were really looking forward to the cave tour, but they were doing a special Halloween tour, and we couldn't get in before that.
We did look around inside at the various animals and displays they had set up, which were nice. They have a live catfish that will boop your hand if you stick it in the water. The snapping turtle tank seemed a bit small for his size, but the rest of the tanks seemed ample for the size of the animals inside.
The woman working there (love Australian accents) was friendly.
We would have liked to hike some of the trails, but unfortunately the weather was not being cooperative. It snowed a lot, and the wind was horrible.
We would stop in again in hopes of getting to take the tour.
09/16/23 made it back to the area, but missed the cave tour again, lol. Although the skies were a bit gloomy, the rain held off long enough for us to hike the trails this time, at least. We had a wonderful afternoon here, and are looking forward to coming back again to hopefully...
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A really nice county park of a bit over 100 acres. There are 2.5 miles of easy trails. The tower gives fantastic views of the surrounding area. Something about the tower may trigger a bit of vertigo, just take the steps 8 at a time. The building of the nature center has a small reptile and fish zoo. The information on bats is helpful and entertaining. There is a lot of information to absorb, if you're not curious or observant most of it will go right past you. There are three caves to explore, but you must arrange a tour ahead of time or catch a scheduled time. When you talk to fellow visitors you will realize how friendly people are in Wisconsin are. All in all this is a great place to spend a couple of hours enjoying an entertaining place and relishing in nature and clean air. There are bathrooms in the building. I believed leashed, well behaved dogs are allowed on the trails, just clean...
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