An Outdoor Meeting of the Missouri Caves Association at Bridal Cave
Have you ever been stuck in a meeting at work, looking out the window, daydreaming about being outside instead of stuck indoors? Well, the Missouri Caves Association (MCA) solved that dilemma for their members by holding their meeting in the lakeside pavilion at Bridal Cave & Thunder Mountain Park.
The MCA's annual fall meeting was held outdoors amidst the natural beauty of our scenic Lake of the Ozarks attraction on October 5, 2016. Owners and operators of showcaves from across Missouri and Arkansas were given a behind the scenes tour of the entire operation here. After the in-depth tour, the entire group gathered in the pavilion for a delicious lunch provided by The Butcher Shop in Camdenton. Following the meal, the meeting took place overlooking the breathtaking Lake of the Ozarks.
Our lakeside pavilion is available for use for company meetings or picnics at no cost when a group tour of Bridal Cave is booked along with the reservation. If you group would be interested in more information about this, please contact Steve Thompson, the general manager, at 573-346-2676 or email Steve@BridalCave.com.
You can find out additional information about Arkansas caves at www.ArkansasCaves.com, and learn all about Missouri caves at www.MissouriCaves.com. One interesting fact that you will discover there is the reason that Missouri is often referred to as "The Cave State." The following facts are from Missouri's site:
The process that left the Ozarks honeycombed with caves, springs and sinkholes is an extremely slow one. According to Vineyard, “It is very difficult to determine the age of a cave because the rates of water flow and chemical activity vary widely throughout time. The caves of the Ozarks are very old, but we really don’t know how old”.
If you own a company, consider hosting one of your meetings in our lakeside pavilion. Your team will love the break and the change of scenery will refresh them for work. If you aren't the owner, share Bridal Cave's blog with your boss. Maybe it will inspire them to take us up on hosting their next meeting at this amazing Lake of the Ozarks attraction.
Our lakeside pavilion is available for use for company meetings or picnics at no cost when a group tour of Bridal Cave is booked along with the reservation. If you group would be interested in more information about this, please contact Steve Thompson, the general manager, at 573-346-2676 or email Steve@BridalCave.com.
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| Outdoor meeting in Bridal Cave's lakeside pavilion |
Missouri
– The Cave State
“The Cave Factory”
As you drive through
the gently rolling countryside of Missouri, you
would not suspect that nature was operating a factory beneath the road. Not
just a factory, but also a complex manufacturing system all hidden underground.
Below the surface of the state, a Cave Factory is operating at full capacity!
Operating 24 hours a
day, seven days a week for untold ages, this cave factory has created nearly
7,000 other caves in Missouri alone.
The karst areas of the Ozarks—generally the southern half of Missouri—are a
perfect place for this cave building process to take place.
Jerry Vineyard, who was
then Missouri’s Deputy State Geologist, coined the term “Cave Factory” several
years ago. He compares the formation of caves in the Ozarks to an automobile
assembly line running at full capacity. The process of making caves never comes
to an end. As soon as one is complete another one has started. Caves are
created; they have a lifespan, providing habitat for some animals, and,
possibly for humans; and eventually, if nature takes its course, the same
forces that created caves will destroy them.
Caves begin as
springs, Vineyard explains. When you see a large spring, what you’re actually
seeing is a cave in its formative stages. “You’re seeing the cave factory at
work,” he said. There are a number of large springs in the Ozarks. Big Spring,
Bennett Spring, Alley Spring, Mammoth Spring and Round Spring are just a few.
The list of ingredients
for making a cave is short. You need plenty of limestone, a mineral that can be
dissolved in groundwater. Add plenty of rain to supply the groundwater.
Finally, since water flows downhill, you need what geologists call “relief” –
uneven land. There’s no shortage of that in the hilly Ozarks.
As it flows beneath the
Earth’s surface, the groundwater chemically and physically eats away at the
limestone. This dissolves and erodes the rock forming the cavities that become
caves. The same action also produces cave formations such as stalactites,
stalagmites and many others. Unless it’s interrupted, this process will
continue throughout the life of the cave, until the cave finally deteriorates
and is destroyed by nature. Sometimes there are remnants — a natural bridge or
tunnel, perhaps — to indicate that a cave was once there.
The process that left the Ozarks honeycombed with caves, springs and sinkholes is an extremely slow one. According to Vineyard, “It is very difficult to determine the age of a cave because the rates of water flow and chemical activity vary widely throughout time. The caves of the Ozarks are very old, but we really don’t know how old”.
If you own a company, consider hosting one of your meetings in our lakeside pavilion. Your team will love the break and the change of scenery will refresh them for work. If you aren't the owner, share Bridal Cave's blog with your boss. Maybe it will inspire them to take us up on hosting their next meeting at this amazing Lake of the Ozarks attraction.
One of America's most scenic
cave tours.
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526 Bridal Cave Road
Camdenton, MO 65020
(573) 346-2676
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