A Colorful Tour through the Florida Caverns State Park

If you are staying at a place called the Florida Caverns RV Resort, the Florida Caverns must be nearby and you are going to want to check them out, right? We sure wanted to — and the Florida Caverns State Park not disappoint!

The Florida Caverns State Park is in the town of Marianna, FL which is in the panhandle area of Northern Florida. This town is very close to being at the intersection of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, which is pretty neat. The State Park was about a 10-minute drive from the campground.

We first found information about the caverns on the Florida State Park website. We were able to see trail maps, information on the caves, pricing, hours, and more. We actually didn’t decide to go the day we did until about 2:30 p.m. when we were looking for something to do that afternoon. We went to their website, looked at tour times and saw there was one more that day at 4 p.m. We booked our spot right then on our phone and an hour later we were in the caves. It was so easy!

The State Park

When driving into the park, you are greeted at the gate by a park ranger, in which you pay $5 per carload, as with most of the Florida State Parks we’ve gone to. This gets you into the park to explore. This park has many nature trails, picnic areas, a camping area, and swimming – as well as the actual caves. As mentioned, the cave tour itself you pay a separate fee for, which we did online, but you can also do it through the store on-site.

There are informational signs like this throughout the park that tell you about different wildlife you can observe in the park as well as historical information that we found quite interesting. Hands-on learning for us all!

Once inside the park, road signs lead you to each area, including this stone building. The on-site store is on the lower level, which has souvenirs, drinks, tour tickets, and more. If you go around the back of this building and up the stairs you will find a small museum with information about the park caves, wildlife, and history. It was a great place to learn a little more while we waited for tour time. Bathrooms are also located in this building.

The Cave Tour

At 4 o’clock sharp a tour guide was out front of this building and ready to take us on our tour. Throughout the whole tour, he was very knowledgeable about everything we saw and was quickly able to answer any questions that any members of the tour brought up. It really makes an experience when a tour guide knows his stuff.

Finally, we entered the caves!

I won’t be listing all the historical facts from our tour, but will show you a variety of the photos that we took from within. It was cool and damp in there, but what we saw was amazing. While I could list some facts about the tour, it really would be much better if you went and experienced the tour, especially if you’ve never been in caves like this before.

Here is a small collection of our photos from this tour:

It was amazing to see so many different shapes and formations throughout. Some spaces we had to duck to fit through. In some places, we had to step around and over puddles. In some places, water dripped on us. But the tour guide was able to warn us about them as we approached.

The Nature Trail

After about an hour-long tour through the caves, we exited out into the warm sunlight again. It was quite hot that day, so while it was nice to be in a dark cave with cooler temps, after an hour, we welcomed the warm air and sunshine again!

While most of the group we toured with turned left and headed back to the Visitor Center, we went right following a hiking trail sign. We were a bit nervous about how long it would be since the map we were given was on the front seat of the truck but figured we could all use the exercise if it was longer than expected.

The trail was full of greenery, from palm trees, to shrubs to many different kinds of trees. And birds were singing the whole way. It was only about a 15-minute walk for us through what looked like a jungle. When we later returned to the truck and checked the map, we found that it was the Beech Magnolia Trail that we hiked on which was 1/4 mile long.

The map also shows several other nature trails, including the Bluff Trail which takes about 45 minutes and is 3/4 of a mile. Maybe next time we go!

The Rest of the Park

After our tour and hike, we then took a brief drive through the rest of the park. There were picnic pavilions around at several locations. People were standing on different bridges fishing in the waters. Several white ibis birds were seen fishing as well! There were signs for the Blue Hole Spring, but it was foot access only and we did not stop.

There appeared to be two sections for camping. One was more of a traditional campground which had some small RVs and tents. The other section was for Equestrian camping. There appeared to be horse stalls and lots of tents pitched in that area! I’m sure it is popular with the equestrian trails that lined that park.

All in all, we have loved every Florida State Park we have been to. Each one offers something different than the next one. Check out our time at each one: Silver Springs State Park, Lake Louisa State Park, and Wekiwa State Park. And when you go to Florida, check out these State Parks. They are unique and beautiful places to explore!

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