A FAR-FLUNG SUGGESTION: CAVES AND CAVERNS

Blanchard Springs Caverns

Blanchard Springs Caverns, near Mountain View in Stone County, is one of Arkansas’s most beautiful and highly developed caves. It is a "living" cave with features that are still evolving.

Take a walk through gorgeous well-lit rooms equipeded with handrails for safe and easy walking. Have fun climbing over rocks and sliding down red clay in a natural area of the caverns. Don't miss visiting the “Water Works” exhibit hall and catch “The Amazing World Below,” a movie that explores underground worlds.

Two of its three levels are open for guided tours. Go to www.blanchardsprings.org for more information and to schedule a tour.

Onyx Cave Park

There’s no onyx in this small show cave in Eureka Springs, but the flowstone (calcite or other minerals also known as frozen waterfalls) you’ll see is called “cave onyx.” This small show cave has been open to tourists since 1893. The cave’s radio-guided 30-minute tour explains the formations in this easily traversed cave. There’s a gift shop; for cave-averse folk, there’s also axe throwing. Tickets are $12 for adults; $8 for kids ages 4-12; free for ages 3 and under. No strollers allowed. Hours change depending on season. For more information go to onyxcaveeurekasprings.com or call 479-253-9321.

War Eagle Cavern On Beaver Lake

War Eagle Cavern’s three types of tours appeal to all levels of curiosity. Traditional guided tours, which leave every 20 minutes, follow an easy, open path along the edges of a stream and cross through huge rooms with domes and other formations. It is stroller accessible and pet friendly. Tickets are $21 for ages 13 and up, $12 for ages 4-12 and free to ages 3 and under. Braver cavers may want to take the Lantern Tour: Guests explore the cave with hand-held oil lamps that hearken to the early days of cave exploration as guides give the history of the cave. Tickets, available for $35 for ages 16 and up only, must be purchased online at least 24 hours in advance.

TheArkansas Ozarks are up the road a piece, but if you are a spelunker (or just like the dark) and looking for something to do up north, why not visit its limestone caves? Get a deeper look inside Arkansas! Unlike many other Arkansas caves that serve as bat habitat, these have not been closed to prevent white-nose syndrome.

For the more adventurous spelunker, the Wild Cavern Tour begins at the point where the traditional tours end. This 2-mile, 3-hour tour, which will require crawling and climbing, passes through a 100-foot-tall underground canyon. Tickets, which must be reserved 48 hours in advance, are $70 per person; only those aged 12 and older may take the tour. For more information visit wareaglecavern.com or call 479-789-2909. Open March 5-Thanksgiving.

Bull Shoals Caverns

Trilobites and echinoderms were swimming about when these limestone caverns in Bull Shoals formed 350 million years ago, give or take a millennia. Pipistrelle bats and salamanders make their home in this cool cave, with stalactites, stalagmites, flowing streams, a waterfall and other cave formations to explore. You can also pan for gemstones here. Tours are about 45 minutes. Tickets are $19.95 for adults, $9.95 for children ages 5-11 and free to ages 4 and under. For more information visit bullshoalscaverns.com or call 870-445-7177. Open mid-March through Thanksgiving. n