Season begins Memorial Weekend for three unique state park tours (2005-05-24)

People may travel by boat, bus, lantern light or train during a variety of unique tour options both above and below ground at three Minnesota state parks.

Beginning Saturday, May 28, the daily public tour season gets underway at Mystery Cave in Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park, Soudan Underground Mine State Park, and Hill Annex Mine State Park.

Each tour offers an adventure that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

MYSTERY CAVE AT FORESTVILLE/MYSTERY CAVE STATE PARK

The one-hour tour is a state-of-the-art accessible tour of Minnesota’s longest cave. The half-mile tour is suitable for the whole family and is offered daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., from Saturday, May 28, through Labor Day. The two-hour lantern tour is a rustic tour offered Saturdays, Sundays and holidays only, from May 28 through Labor Day. Visitors are provided with hand-held electric lanterns that light the cave features along gravel pathways. The three-quarter-mile tour includes numerous steps and is for visitors age 5 and up.

Reservations for the one-and two-hour tours should be made through the state park reservation system. Warm dress is recommended for these tours since the cave is a constant 48 degrees.

New this season, Mystery Cave is offering two special tours that can be arranged by contacting the park. The wild caving tours are available on summer weekends. Visitors will don hardhats, headlights, knee and elbow pads to crawl through a remote section of the cave. Participants must be at least 13 years old and in good physical condition.

This is a four-hour tour and group size is limited to five people. Cost is $36 per person.

The special advanced educational tour is available for groups of 10 or more who seek a stronger emphasis on karst geology. This tour is designed for older students and adults. Cost is $14 per person. Call the park for more information and reservation information.

In addition to these tours, visitors should tour the new visitor center at the cave. The facility offers interpretive displays, a covered patio, picnic area, restroom facilities and a nature store gift shop.

SOUDAN UNDERGROUND MINE

On the Historic Tour, visitors hop on an underground train for a ride to the site where workers last mined iron ore. Daily tours of the historic mine at Soudan Underground Mine are offered every hour, on the hour, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tours of the underground high energy physics lab give visitors the opportunity to visit the facility where physicists and engineers from around the world are trying to answer questions about how the universe works. Physics lab tours are offered twice a day at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The combination tour package offers a morning or afternoon option. The morning combination begins at 10 a.m. with the lab tour followed by the historic tour at noon. The afternoon combination begins with the historic tour at 2 p.m., followed by the lab tour at 4 p.m.

For all Soudan tours, the park staff reminds visitors to bring a sweater or jacket since the mine remains at 50 degrees year-round.

HILL ANNEX MINE

Hill Annex Mine offers three different tours on weekends only. The mine tour takes visitors by bus for a tour of open pit mines, a look at the mine’s operation area and information about the people who worked the mine. On the fossil hunting tour, visitors take a five-minute bus ride to the fossil area to hunt for such things as sharks’ teeth, clams and other ocean critters that were formed 86 million years ago when a sea covered the area. For this tour, park staff recommends visitors wear old clothes, sun hats, and bring water and bug spray. On the boat tour, passengers hear about the history of open pit mining on board a pontoon boat as they float on the open pit mines that are now partially filled with water.

Individual tour rates at all of the parks are $9 per person for adults, $6 per person for children 5-12 years old, and free for children under 5. The combined tour rate at Soudan Underground Mine is $16 per person for adults, $10 per person for children 5-12 years old and free for children under 5.

Call the park for special prices on combination tours at Hill Annex. Mystery Cave offers other special caving tours that can be arranged by contacting the park. Space on these tours can be reserved in advance by calling the state park reservation service at 1-866-857-2757 or booking online at www.stayatmnparks.com.

Tour reservations can be made from two - 90 days in advance. For a nonrefundable reservation fee of $8.50, up to 10 spaces can be reserved with one reservation. Half of the spaces on each tour will continue to be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

At all of the parks, special arrangements can be made for schools and other group tours by calling the park directly.

For details, check the information on the park’s Web page at www.dnr.state.mn.us or call Soudan Underground Mine, (218) 753-2245; Mystery Cave, (507) 352-5111; Hill Annex Mine, (218) 247-7215.

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