Bridal Cave & Thunder Mountain Park

Summer's not over yet, but the kids are already thinking about having to go back to school very soon. It's a great time to surprise them with a trip to our family fun Lake of the Ozarks Attraction . There is plenty to do and see at Bridal Cave & Thunder Mountain Park to fill an entire, adventurous day.  Entertaining Activities Our cave tour is full of educational facts, plus fun stories about its colorful history. The great big sluice in front of our gift shop allows you to pan for gemstones that you can take home as a souvenir. We've also got a machine that lets you break open your very own geode.  " We toured Bridal Cave with an excellent guide. For 45 minutes we marveled at the formations and learned a lot. Kids are easily captivated with the experience and on a hot day it's a great place to hang out. " ~ MissMem, TripAdvisor review Just For Kids The " Kids Only " section of our website features the "Adventure News....

If you think you have seen everything here at the Lake of the Ozarks, but you have not yet climbed the observation tower in Thunder Mountain Park , then we've got an amazing lake view in store for you. This bird's-eye-view of the entire park, as well as the gorgeous lake, is a site that no one visiting our Lake of the Ozarks scenic attraction should miss.  The observation tower at the top of Thunder Mountain is operated by the Missouri Department of Conservation and completely open to the public. This fire tower is 100-feet tall, with a viewing platform at 80-feet.  The History of Missouri's Fire Towers Due to the abundance of forests in Missouri, the state began putting up these fire towers on ridges and hilltops. They allowed people to see for miles, keeping a lookout for lines of smoke that would indicate a forest fire. These wooden fire towers began going up as early as 1927 in state parks, but there were not a lot of them.   The federal government got inv...

The most scenic cave tour in Missouri is surrounded by the natural beauty of Thunder Mountain Park .  This incredible Lake of the Ozarks attraction  covers hundreds of acres.  It spreads over more than a mile of Lake of the Ozraks shoreline, a mile of highway frontage along Old Missouri Route 5, and all the acreage in between.  That is a lot of nature to be explored! Establishing the park Thunder Mountain Park was established in 1950 in order to protect the caves within it.  The amazing colors and incredible onyx formations inside of Bridal Cave  are all formed by minerals from rain water that seeps into the ground. This is a process called deposition.  Preserving the natural state of the park above the cave prevents any changes to the surface area, which could have a detrimental impact on the deposition process.  Protecting the surface area protects the water quality, which in turn protects the cave.     Aerial view of Thunde...