Bridal Cave & Thunder Mountain Park

It may be a few more weeks until spring actually gets here but spring has sprung here at Thunder Mountain Park ! The weather is warming up and we opened up our sluice for the season!  Bridal Cave has offered visitors the chance to pan for gemstones from bags of sand (plus a lot more) into our sluice for many years! The beautiful gemstone treasures that are found make excellent trip souvenirs. What is a sluice? Just in case you aren't familiar with what we are talking about, here is an explanation. A sluice is a water channel that is controlled at the head by a gate. When the gate is lifted, water flows from a tower through the sluice. Guests are invited to dump a sluice bag full of sand (and more) into the channel of clear, pristine water and pan for the gemstones which are hidden within the sand. Sluice Bags  Guests can enjoy finding unique gemstones to take home from panning in our sluice. We offer a variety of bags to choose from with different price points a...

If you have already visited our scenic family attraction at the Lake of the Ozarks , you saw a great big contraption next to the front door of the gift shop entrance. That was our sluice, which over one half million Bridal Cave & Thunder Mountain Park guests enjoyed for the past 10 years. We say "was" because it is no longer there.  Not to worry, though, because we've replaced this visitor favorite with an even bigger, even better sluice.  What is a sluice? Just in case you aren't familiar with what we are talking about, here is an explanation. A sluice is a water channel that is controlled at the head by a gate. When the gate is lifted, water flows from a tower through the sluice. Guests are invited to dump a sluice bag full of sand (and more) into the channel of clear, pristine water and pan for the gemstones which are hidden within the sand.       Bigger and Better This week, the crew of Sandy Creek Mining Company from Fostoria, Ohio delivered...

One of the most popular activities at our Lake of the Ozarks scenic attraction is the ability to pan for gemstones in our sluice. Bridal Cave has offered visitors the chance to dump pre-packaged bags of sand (plus a lot more) into our sluice for the past ten years. The beautiful treasures that are found make excellent trip souvenirs. A sluice is a water channel that is controlled at the head by a gate. When this gate is lifted, water flows down from the water tower through the sluice. The clear, pristine water is perfect for filling a pan with the contents of our sluice bags and discovering the surprises that are waiting inside.  After a decade of wear and tear from tens of thousands of park guests, our Thunder Mountain Park  sluice was in need of a few repairs. Our sluice is manufactured by the Sandy Creek Mining Company out of Fostoria, Ohio. They happened to be in Missouri recently and headed on over as soon as we gave them a call. These guys were...