Rhonda and Layton at the Trading Post

Natalie says "Oooo"
Inside Blanchard Springs Cavern

The beautiful mountain view of the Ozarks in Northeast Arkansas, on the way to the Ozark Folk Center and

Blanchard Springs Caverns

On the fourth day of our vacation, Tuesday, we headed off to visit Blanchard Springs Caverns. These are the only "caverns" in the US that are actually run by the US Forest Service. Discovered in 1955-1956, they were opened to the public for visits in the mid-1970's. There are three tours avail, the Dripstone Tour, which is stroller and wheelchair accessible and has the prettiest sights. The others are called the Discovery Tour, which has 700 steps, and the Wild Cave Tour, which requires you to crawl through the cave in places. Obviously, we did not take this tour, we took the Dripstone Tour and it was beautiful!! After leaving the tour, we also visited the area where the springs come out of the side of the mountain, a nice picnic area, and a spot for swimming in the cool 58 degree water.
We left the springs and headed for the Trading Post Stable to go horseback riding. Rhonda and her son, Layton, drove up from Sheridan to join us today. Our guide was a 13 year old guy named Levi - and he led us up and down the mountainside for about an hour and a half. We had fun and left with some stories to tell!
We ended the day with a visit to downtown Mountain View, where the mountain folk gather to play Ozark folk music on their banjos, fiddles, and guitars. We will head back to Mountain View later in the week for more music.