Creation of the Maquoketa Caves

(Dressed in jeans and a pink jacket, Abby Brown jogs towards the camera as she speaks.)

[Abby Brown] You are not going to believe where I am today. Come on, follow me.

(Abby gestures for the camera to follow her as she jogs off screen.)

(Abby is standing at the mouth of a cave on a wooden walkway. You can hear water rushing behind her.)

[Abby] This is one of Iowa's most geologically, uncommon state parks. Where dark and eerie and wet are definitely part of the landscape. Can you guess where I am?

(music)

(Rain falling fast and splashing up off the ground. Abby is standing on a wooden staircase four steps up from the ground.)

[Abby] It's a rainy day today, but it's always kind of wet around here. In fact, the water is a really important part of this place. Let's go check it out.

(Abby gestures to the camera to follow her as she turns into the cave.)

(music)

(The wooden staircase leading down into the cave)

(Rock wall of the cave.)

(Walkway leading into the cave. Water is all around.)

(Rushing water over rocks.)

(music)

(Abby comes from around the corner. She is standing on a wide ledge as she speaks to the camera.)

[Abby] This is one of the caves at Maquoketa Caves State Park. Now some of the caves you can only see if you get down on your knees and crawl through them; but some of them, like this one, you can walk through.

(music)

(Size of the cave. The light from the camera sparkles off the water flowing in the cave.)

(Formations of ice with water dripping down.)

(Abby is kneeling down as she speaks to the camera.)

[Abby] Oh, I just got dripped on. And they say that if water drips on your head in a cave, it's called a cave kiss. And if you get a cave kiss, you'll have good luck.

(A cave wall.)

(music)

(Abby is kneeling down as she speaks to the camera.)

[Abby] Check out these walls. They're clearly made out of rock. In fact, they're made out of limestone and they're all wet. Now you might think that it would take crashing waves and rushing water to create such magnificent caves, but there are no crashing waves and no rushing water anywhere. So, how did water create these caves?

(music)

(A closeup of water running off of the cave wall.)

(Water flowing through a cave.)

(Water falling from a great height to the ground.)

[Abby] In this beautiful park with trees, bluffs and lots of nooks and crannies, amazing high spots and mysterious low spots, the evidence of how Iowa's landscape has changed and continues to change is right before our very eyes.

(music)

(A drone shot looking down through the tree canopy at the walkway leading into the mouth of the cave.)

(Water flowing over rocks inside the cave.)

(Water flowing through a cave.)

[Abby] Erosion caused by slow-moving streams and even drips of water have created all of this. So while there's no crashing waves, even little drips of water over thousands and thousands of years, can create massive changes like the Maquoketa Caves right here in Iowa.

(music)

(A drone shot looking down through the tree canopy at the walkway leading into the mouth of the cave.)

[Announcer] Funding for FIND Iowa has been provided by the following supporters.

(text on screenFind Iowa, Pella, Gilchrist Foundation)

(text on screen Iowa PBS Education)