Bridal Cave & Thunder Mountain Park

The perfect way to kick off Spring is by attending the Camdenton Dogwood Festival this April! The Dogwood Festival will take place this year from April 21st-23rd. This festival is truly one of the best family fun events at the Lake and you won't want to miss it! You can look forward to a parade, crafts, music, entertainment, food, and more! Camdenton Dogwood Festival!  The Camdenton Chamber of Commerce is excited to announce the festival dates of April 21-23, 2022 for the official 71st Annual Dogwood Festival with the theme of “Small Town Proud.” Stay tuned in the coming weeks as more information becomes available. Check back here or the Camdenton Chamber Facebook page for updates. Get ready for the kick-off to Spring with the Dogwood Festival! This popular Lake of the Ozarks annual event celebrates our beautiful state tree, the Flowering Dogwood. You will find many of these gorgeous trees all around  Thunder Mountain Park , and in the spring they are in full glory. White...

If you've been through our  cave at the Lake of the Ozarks , you know that we have a wishing well along the tour. It's hard to resist not throwing a few coins in as you pass by. What you may not know is that when you make a wish, wishes really do come true! It may not be the wish that you wished for but the coins you throw in our wishing well are used to provide a scholarship for a high school student pursuing higher education! We are excited to announce that we are expanding our scholarship program! Read on to learn more!  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wishes Make Dreams Come True (Camdenton, MO) Each year tens of thousands of tourists make their way through the Ozark Mountains to tour Bridal Cave. As part of every tour, guests are invited to make a wish by tossing coins into the wishing well inside the cave. These wishes are helping to make graduating high school seniors' dreams come. In the past, a scholarship was given each year to a deserving Camdenton R-3 graduate from coins...

The weather is slowly warming up, which means it is time to get outside! Come visit us at Bridal Cave for a fun adventure at the best outdoor attraction at Lake of the Ozarks ! Bridal Cave is rated as one of America’s three most scenic cave tours in the US. We would love to show you around! Read on to learn more about the Spring Bridal Cave experience!   Why was it Named Bridal Cave? First, you may be wondering why it was named Bridal Cave. This vicinity was inhabited by the Osage Native Americans. The following incident is a legend that brought romance and tragedy to this section of the Ozarks and gave the names to many places as they are known today. You can read the full story on our website. Long story short, according to the “legend of Conwee”, the son of an Osage chief who desired to marry the daughter of the chief of the opposing tribe. He is said to have kidnapped her for this reason. Wasena, the daughter of the opposing tribe, ran swiftly toward a high cliff that towers t...

If you're itching to partake in some fun Spring activities, come to Bridal Cave and enjoy some spring activities at Thunder Mountain Park! Panning for gemstones is one of our top souvenir items that people love in our rock shop! It's a perfect springtime activity to enjoy before or after your cave tour! Read on to learn more! 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 and treasures that you'll fin.  Paydirt  Lucky Strike Emerald Bags Fossil ...

Whether you have never been to a cave before, or you have been to several, Bridal Cave is a must-see attraction at Lake of the Ozarks! In fact, it has been rated as one of the most scenic caves in America. Located at Thunder Mountain it provides a year-round opportunity to enjoy nature, see out of this world scenery, and learn some cool things too! If you are looking for some fun spring break activities at Lake of the Ozarks , keep reading this blog to hear 5 reasons you will want to put Bridal Cave , Lake of the Ozarks on your list. The kids will be excited to go! Your family can be excited and looking forward to their adventures at the cave long before they arrive. There is a “Kids Only” tab on our website that opens the door to a bunch of fun learning for your kids. It will answer questions like do rocks grow? What’s it like in the cave? What kind of life is in the cave? It also will teach about cave safety, and more! There’s even a fun experiment that you can conduct that demonstra...