Stark Caverns

New to Lake of the Ozarks? Be sure to add Stark Caverns to your summer to-do list. Stark Caverns has been providing guests with tours for seventy years. Open year-round, daily tours are given hourly during the summer from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm, and every half-hour on the weekends. Gorgeous formations and waterways can be experienced with ease due to our wide walkways. See the Ballroom and Moonshiner's Dam and learn about Native American artifacts and ancient bear beds. In addition to our daily tours, Stark Caverns offers a variety of specialty tours where you'll see the cave in a whole new light. Learn about the science of fluorescence as you study the colorful array of "glowing rocks" using hand-held black lights. Or, see the caverns the way early explorers did with our Lantern Tour, which includes a sneak peek at our growing museum collection. Problem solvers and adventure seekers will love playing the Escape Room inside the cave. All-new for 2020 is a

Rocks that glow. That’s the easiest way to describe  fluorescent minerals . A more technical definition is that certain minerals absorb light, and under the right conditions, release it to reveal a different color. Experts agree the best conditions for viewing fluorescent minerals are in the dark using an ultraviolet light. Putting these thoughts together, Stark Caverns has developed a unique, guided tour that allows you to view a number of these minerals first hand.  Outfitted with helmets, safety goggles, and a hand-held black light, guests are able to experience a variety of colors that naturally occur inside of the cave. Your experienced and knowledgeable tour guide will explain the science of fluorescence while highlighting unique formations and deposits of calcite, iron, manganese , and nickel.  Stark Caverns is one of only a handful of caves in the country able to offer this experience, due to the prevalence of calcite and our wide walking paths which ar