“a step back in geological time”
Maquoketa Caves State Park is a state park of Iowa, USA, located in Jackson County. It stands northwest of the city of Maquoketa. The park contains more caves than any other state park in Iowa. A trail system links the caves, formations, and overlooks while providing a scenic hiking experience. Many areas on these trails have seen new construction, making the journey to the caves safer. Most of the caves may be entered by persons of average physical ability, but some are more advanced. However the park's caves were closed to humans between 2010 and April 2012 in the hopes of protecting the resident bats from white nose syndrome. The park is in the Driftless Area of Iowa. This region escaped being glaciated in the last ice age, while regions to the east and west were not spared. The park has been subjected to hundreds of thousands of years of natural non-glacial erosion. The park's caves, limestone formations and rugged bluffs represent a step back in geological time of thousands of years. Stalactites once hung from the ceilings and stalagmites rose from the floor. Souvenir hunters have robbed the caves of this rare beauty, but many formations remain. Today a modern interpretive center outside the park entrance provides maps and other informational materials. Inside the park, a central map kiosk includes charts of some of the more interesting caves.
Reviews of Maquoketa Caves State Park
13 people have reviewed this location
Ratings Summary
Cell Coverage
Verizon 4G/5G
Confirmed by 5 users | Last reported on May 28, 2024AT&T 4G
Confirmed by 1 users | Last reported on July 20, 2020Reviews
Great stop for the family and pet friendly for dogs on leash. This FREE state park was a nice cool walk on a hot summer day. Trails were a little muddy from recent rain and slippery in places but overall the park trails and infrastructure are well maintained and staff was very friendly.
CURRENTLY CLOSED UNTIL AUGUST 2018 or FURTHER NOTICE
Loved this place! Beautiful scenery! More than a dozen different sized and shaped caves. Lots of places to climb around and through the caves. Flashlights/headlamps, clothes you don't care about getting dirty, and your camera are a must to get the full experience! So much fun even for my 3 and 5yr old boys!
We camped here at Maquoketa Caves State Park last August 2014. The state park has good hiking trials that will lead you to numerous caves. One of the largest and stunning cave is the Dancehall cave. I suggest you bring your own flashlight once you go caving. The campground was nice and clean with picnic tables. There were also clean and good conditioned facilities like the showers, toilets, and a dump station.
Great, small (>30 sites), quiet, and clean state park campground. Site 21 is almost fully shaded for most of the day. Verizon cell service was usable for working, but I don't have to do a lot of video chats, just audio - speed test says internet was slow but it worked for me 2.36 mbps download/2.21 mbps upload. ATT worked on my phone and iPad for posting on Instagram and such, facetime, and texting but couldn't get it to work as a hot spot to do a speed test. Only electric hookups but potable water spigots throughout the campground and dump station and water fill station at the front. Shower house had 3 shower stalls - 1 being ADA accessible. Sinks deep enough for dishes. Firewood available for donations. Bottle and can recycle bin and trash dumpster by shower house. Self-checkin for reservations and register for open sites at the kiosk as you enter the campground. I'm not sure if that's normal procedure or a covid thing. Hiking trails easily accessible without having to drive. The hiking trails are not well marked and the caves were closed (covid). Also an easy drive to the town of Dubuque.
Nightly Rate: $16.00
Days Stayed: 5
Site Number: 21
RV Length: 25 ft
RV Type: Travel Trailer
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
AT&T 4G
$8 for walk in sites, $16 for 20,30,50 electrical hookups. Potable water for your tank, spigots here and there, dump, nice fire rings, tables, firewood available for donation. Showers and bathroom acceptable.
Enough hiking for a couple of days in woods and on prairie.
All sites except #1 by reservation.
Sites are large, level, mostly shady, well thought out.
Nightly Rate: $16.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: -
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
First time visit for us that we enjoyed. Came in at the end of a busy weekend and DNR was monitoring entrance to the camping (presume to keep day-use people from parking there) but had friendly help from them. Free showers. Donations for firewood which was well-stocked. Not much privacy between sites, but worked out OK for us.
Site was very level. Nice picnic table and nice fire ring.
Spent three days going around the cave trails. Cave locations are not consistently marked and some are a real pain to find. The park map needs a good update. Make sure you bring a headlamp per person and would suggest wearing waterproof footwear for a couple of the caves.
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 3
Site Number: 10
The campsites are very nice. Firewood by donation. Lots of tree coverage. Both nights got to hear coyotes and barn owls. 15 minute drive to town for supplies. The trails are nice and caves were fun. 1 bar Verizon cell coverage. Used a Weboost and got 3 bars.
Nightly Rate: $22.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: 3
RV Length: 40 ft
RV Type: Class A
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 5G
The campground is very nice but the showers are a disgrace! They were the filthiest I have ever seen. There were huge wads of hair all over, there were a lot of black worms in the corners of the stall, smashed bugs on the walls, old spider webs galore and the walls were slimy. I think the camp host is responsible for cleaning them, but the camp host never came out of their RV. It is a disgrace to an otherwise lovely park.
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: -
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
For the price we paid I would expect someone to clean the bathrooms. There was trash in our site when we arrived and screaming kids running everywhere unsupervised. The cave trails were littered with trash and and new trails were made by people walking where they want. Iowa DNR needs to step up their game here.
Nightly Rate: $28.00
Days Stayed: 3
Site Number: 20
RV Type: Other
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 5G
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Maquoketa Caves State Park
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Parking
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Pets Allowed
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Restrooms
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Wifi
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Wheelchair Accessible
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Credit Cards Accepted
- Affiliation
- State park or forest
- Last Nightly Rate
- 28.0
- Longest Vehicle Length Reported
- 40 ft
- Lowest Nightly Rate
- 16.0
- Max Stay
- 14
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Fifty Amp
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Full Hookup
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Pull Through
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Tent Sites
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Dump Station
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Big Rigs
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Open Seasonally
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Age Restricted
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Boondock
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Cabin Sites
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Dispersed Sites
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Firewood
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Fulltime Residents
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Group Tent Sites
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Laundry
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Mobile Homes
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Permit Required
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Potable Water
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Propane
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Public Water
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Pull Through RV Sites
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Reservations
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Sewer Hookup
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Showers
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Standard Tent Sites
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Water Hookup
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Outdoor Seating
Campground, Parking, Dining, Restrooms
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