Manitowoc County Cherney Maribel Caves Park — Attraction in Town of Cooperstown

Our family goes back a ways with this park. My mother and her brothers played and explored this area when they were just kids. The first time I was here was in high school and we crawled on our bellies to get into a cave. There are several cave systems to explore in this 75 acre park. Not to mention some nice hiking trails into some very nice habitats. The Spring Cave has been known the longest. It is so named for its constant flow of water. This cave is only viewed from the outside. Other caves are the Tartarus Cave, with its three entrances, the Coopers Cave, the Pancake Cave; and last, but not least the New Hope Maribel Cave. I could go into detail about each cave; but it will suffice to say each cave is unique. The New Hope Cave is the latest discovery in 1984. There are a total of eleven caves here. There is a history of dedicated volunteers working to clear the caves to accommodate more visitors. Check their web-site (maribelcaves.com) to find days to tour caves and work days. The park is open from dawn to dusk, There is no fee to enter the park. And well behaved animals on leashes are allowed. A couple of years ago I took my biology class out here. One girl wore a chic white outfit. She was clay red by the end of the day. Bring a flashlight and wear sturdy boots and clothing. You will get dirty As of 2021, there is a...

If you come on the 3rd Sunday of the month tours are offered of the new hope cave. There is a bat colony here. Most of the caves have metal doors sealing them and the open one is a crawl. The park is very clean and has little vandalism as there are cameras. There is a main parking lot with 2 covered pavilions with picnic tables and bathrooms plus an overflow lot. The bluff trail is steep, uneven and narrow in spots. It would be very difficult to make it accessible. If you can do stairs and walk a couple blocks you can get a glimpse of the nicest formations by going down and back up the trail near the tartarus pavilion. The trail by the new hope pavilion leads directly to the ruins of a former hotel and spa where people used to stay to drink and dip in the magnesium rich spring water which you can drink further down the trail. You can see the hotel ruins from the road as well as the trail but, it is on private property so you can't get very close. Some say it's haunted but, it didn't give me that feeling. I was alone for most of my hike and enjoyed the serenity and beauty of the...

Beautiful park but.....upon arriving in our parking spot my family got out and we were greeted by a vehicle that pulled directly up behind us and rolled down their window. The vehicle which had some high visibility stickers on it and some sort of clearance flag or antenna on it had sort of an unofficial look to it. Inside was a retirement aged man who didn't sat much so I said "hello do you work for the parks?" He said he does work for them but also has worked for the state police and the US marshals in the past. This confused me and I stood there waiting for this gentleman to get to the reason why he decided to drive up on my family and roll down his window. He then told me some info about the park and handed me a map of the park. That of course was quite helpful but the manner in which this gentleman dealt with people was odd and quite frankly rude. Bringing up the law enforcement experience was either meant to impress or intimidate. It didn't work and it only...