Indian Cave State Park

This weekend was a weekend to "celebrate" Alex's birthday. I (Mak) gave him a few options of different adventures to choose from. He chose a voyage to Indian Cave State park.


After a quick lunch we were on our way to the park voyaging through small town Nebraska. Finally we arrived at Indian Cave and paid the modest $5 daily pass charge. Not too shabby.

Me and Alex

To begin with we just drove to find a place to park and start exploring. We decided not to use a map and rely on our sense of adventure and my vague memories from when I was there 10 years ago. Driving through the narrow road that winds through the trees was beautiful! Finally we arrived at the area where you could go on horse rides through the park (which we decided not to since we weren't really dressed for it). I showed him the horses that I had remembered riding 10 years ago!

A Main Hiking Trail

After looking at the horses we drove a little further and explored the living history log cabin area. It was fun to see everything being recreated! We learned a lot about lye soap (I ended up buying 2 bars at $1 each) and how it is made. Then we explored the candle making station and the blacksmith's shop.


Right next to the candle making building we thought we spotted a trail. It wasn't the best maintained and had some overgrowth, but we took off on our voyage. I walked on the more beaten path while Alex-just so he could hold my hand-would walk through the grassier parts. We eventually wondered whether we should turn around, but decided to keep going. Eventually the trail let out at a road right by the Missouri River overlook. 


Then we found a map and another trail head. We concocted a way to hike back to the living history area where my car was. Then we would plan on driving to the cave which was actually quite a ways away still. Now we started on our hike back on a much nicer trail. We met some nice people who insisted the trail went on forever. During this conversation Alex found probably seven ticks on him! The wonderful ladies were more fired up about it then he was! They insisted that we use their bug spray and we reassured them that we had just taken a much brushier trail. 

Me and Alex by the riverbank

We continued our hike and ended up right on the bank of the Missouri river. It was so beautiful. After a short break to appreciate God's beauty we carried on. The trail passed the Halfblood Cemetery. At this point we were starting to get quite exhausted from our work out and were hoping for the winding path of ups and downs to end. On our way we passed a family complete with small child and a baby in a stroller. I have so much respect for the father who had the determination to push the stroller on this crazy trail of steep hills and narrow paths full of ruts and inconvenient tree roots. What a man! It was hard enough completely on my own. 


At last our hike was over and none too soon! On our way back to my car we explored the schoolhouse and general store before having some water that thankfully stayed cool in the trunk of my car. Now it was finally time to make our way to the pride of Indian Cave: the cave itself!

A shot of the cave

After exploring the cave and attempting to find the Indian hieroglyphs among the many graffiti carvings, we were ready to conclude our adventure. However, there was one more draw that the park had left and it drew us in with its sign proclaiming "Bake Sale". There was indeed a bake sale, but it was at a muzzle loader  shooting range which WAS FREE! So Alex and I both shot off a round from a pistol and a rifle. We didn't have any luck with the pistol, but proved to both be decent marksmen with the rifle.


Then our adventure finally came to a close. It was a great day and we plan on exploring the rest that Indian Cave has to offer on another one of our adventures!


For more information about Indian Cave State Park click here!