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...

Thursday, July 13, happens to be International Rock Day. As you probably know, we love rocks here at Bridal Cave & Thunder Mountain Park ! We have one of the coolest rock and mineral shops around featuring specimens from all over the world. We even have a couple of fun activities you can enjoy involving rocks here at our Lake of the Ozarks family attraction . After reading today's blog, we hope you'll become a rock-lover too.  Rocks... well, they rock!  Rocks are a naturally occurring phenomenon, much like the amazing formation of Bridal Cave. Some are composed of only one mineral, while others are made with a mixture of different minerals. When you visit our gift shop, you will see a wonderful variety of rocks, minerals, and gemstones to marvel at. Some of these include Amethyst, Pyrite, Citrine, and Calcite.  Some people may think that rocks are cool simply because of the way they look. The variety of shapes, sizes, and colors is intriguing, and we even carry...

Your favorite Lake of the Ozarks attraction is still open this time of year, but since the crowds are a little smaller than they are mid-summer, we use this slower portion of the year to get the park ready for the 2017 season. Bridal Cave & Thunder Mountain Park will feature some new and exciting things for our returning visitors next year.   New Backup Generator Bridal Cave recently had a brand new backup generator installed. Since our cave is a constant 60° and safe from outdoor elements, we tend to get extremely busy during storms and bad weather. Visitors can always enjoy a natural adventure without worrying about what the weather is doing outdoors.  Before, if the power went out, anyone in the middle of a cave tour was literally left in the dark! A cool experience, but very difficult to get around or enjoy the beauty of the cave. With our brand new backup generator (which has already come in handy this year and works perfectly) we are now even more of an all-we...

Bridal Cave & Thunder Mountain Park 's general manager, Steve Thompson, will soon be traveling to Orlando to check out the brand new rocks, gemstones, and minerals for us to sell next year. It's great for Steve because he is like a kid in a candy store sorting through all of those gorgeous varieties of rocks. It's great you too, because we need to make room for the new inventory, so many of our current selections are on sale! The wonderful Lake of the Ozarks gift shop located at Bridal Cave has an incredible selection of the most unique and fascinating gemstones. Each year, Steve makes the trip to Orlando to meet with our importers. There, he hand selects only the best rocks from around the world to bring back to our gift shop for next season. Our Closeout Sale Specials Before we refill the gift shop with all of Steve's brand new finds, we are having a BIG closeout sale on many of our unique specimens. Supplies are limited, and once they're gone.. t...

All kids love rocks, and the best of us are truly kids at heart.  Recently, Bridal Cave 's general manager, Steve Thompson, had the youthful joy of spending some time in warehouses full of rocks and minerals from around the world.  One of the best features of our Lake of the Ozarks gift shop is the wide variety of incredibly beautiful and interesting rocks, minerals, and gemstones that we have for sale.   Steve traveled to Orlando, Florida to meet in person with the direct rock, gem, fossil, and mineral importers that Bridal Cave purchases our high-quality items from.  Traveling to meet these direct importers lets us hand select every item that we offer you.   Orders have been placed, and by February 2016, our rock and mineral shop will be fully stocked with popular items such as:   Himalayan Salt Amethyst from Brazil Highly Banded Onyx from Pakistan Geodes from Morocco.   We will also be featuring many items from newly found depos...