Caves and Karst and Camraderie

Natural Bridge - Ha Ha Tonka State Park, Missouri

Ha Ha Tonka State Park is only about 30 minutes from where I live so it is the park visited most often by our family.  We first heard about it shortly after we moved to Missouri in 1978, the year the land and the castle remains were purchased by the State of Missouri.  It is the first outing each year as cabin fever sets in and we just have to get outside and hike.  It was the most frequented field trip while the children were in school and I always went along as homeroom mother as well as leader for events with girl and boy scouts and also church youth groups.  My husband and I continue  enjoying the park long after the children left home.  We are always discovering new things and are fortunate to have such a rich environment so close to home.  

In 2013, we became involved with the Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance (LOWA) which organized kayak events and I have mentioned in other articles in this blog.  Ha Ha Tonka State Park is the place we meet.  A couple of friends that I met from LOWA are in my Master Naturalist class that started a few weeks ago and goes until May.  We will do community service projects of our choice to keep learning and giving back to the community.  Most of all, I love that I have found a large group(s) of people that inspire and motivate me in my passion.  I am discovering as I get to know more and more people that most also hike, bicycle, fly-fish, kayak and garden like I do!  There are several other Master Gardeners like me as  well.  I was pleasantly surprised to find some of my classmates are from places I have lived before like Iowa where we know many of the same people and a couple from where I grew up in Northern Virginia.  It amazes me that so many professional as well as retired people from many areas come together here with so much in common.

On this Saturday, my Master Naturalist class had a Field Day as we  learned about Caves and Karst at the previous Monday's class.  Some of the interesting things I remember is that Ha Ha Tonka is the best park in the state with the biggest variety of caves (14) and early rock formations that can be seen in any of the seven large sinkholes.  Winter is a great time to view as the leaves are off the trees and the rocks and land formations are most visible and easily accessed. 140 square miles comprise the watershed that supply the Spring.  The Spring is one of the water sources for The Lake of the Ozarks.  It produces 60 million gallons of water per day.  Some divers checked it out a few years ago and measured the depth at 70' until it levels out flat about the size of a football field underground.  This is a newer cave and is in formation as a spring is a cave in the making.  Check out the website Ha Ha Tonka State Park  for more information about the caves, karst, and castle history.

Sinkholes are shallow, bowl-shaped depressions ranging from a few feet to more than 3000 feet.  Limestone and dolomite ridges and layers can been seen very well on the walls of a sinkhole.  Sinkholes are Karst-created.  Karst results when underlying bedrock has been dissolved away - a type of terrain or geological landscape.  Karst groundwater is an incredible natural resource.  The quality of the groundwater is dependent upon how we use the land and how well we protect the quality of groundwater recharge.  "Whatever goes down, comes up - up through a cave, a spring or a well."

Park Naturalist stands between the old Water Tower and the edge of the largest sinkhole pictured above.  

The Master Naturalist Class hikes along one of the largest Sinkholes called The Coliseum.

Here I am with a classmate on the other side of the sinkhole.  Previous photo with the Park Naturalist was taken where the wood fence is located in front of the Old Water Tower.  That's how BIG this sinkhole is!

View as our group descends above the Spring.  See the Castle remains on top of the ridge in the upper right corner?

The Spring is the dark green/blue water under the rock ledge.  It is 70' deep and produces 60 million gallons of water per day.  Dye-tests show 120 square mile area drains water to this site. 

View along walkway approach to Spring.  The average water temperature is always 56-58 degrees.  Today the water is warmer than the air.  There is always green plant growth in the shallow waters and it never freezes close to the Spring.  

This is the largest cave on the park.  When the park was first bought by the state in 1978, there were 20,000 bats counted by infrared cameras coming out at dusk.  Today the population is 120,000.  This can be attributed to gating the entrances to keep out predators and the shoot allows the bats to come and go naturally.  In early June, at dusk, anyone can come and sit on the steps/walkway nearby and wait for the many thousands of bats to come out.  This is a major location for reproduction.  

A Cave is a natural opening in the ground and is a geological feature; cannot have a cave without water.  The average temperature of caves in Missouri is 56 degrees with over 80% humidity.  Missouri is known as The Cave State because of the large number of caves; at least 6200.  Tennessee exceeds our count with 9000, but people are discovering about 100 more caves each year in Missouri.  Cave fish can live 60-70 years because there's no predators and they don't move around much so as to not expend energy; not much to eat.  There are 13-16 different species of bats.  People are no longer allowed to enter caves without special permits because White-Nose Syndrome is a fungus hurting the bat populations.  It doesn't affect people but people brought it here from Europe.  It is increasingly hurting bat populations and there is no cure.  Hopefully, a vaccine will be discovered for the bats.  The gray bat doesn't seem to be affected.

I've been to Ha Ha Tonka countless times since we moved to Missouri in 1978.  There is always something news to learn and see.  Just when I think I have seen it all, I see it again with new people and new perspectives and knowledge.  It is a great place to share experiences, knowledge and enjoy the camaraderie of new friends.