Searryl's Cave State Preserve

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State Preserves

Searryl’s Cave State Preserve is a 43-acre area featuring a natural cave formed by groundwater movement through limestone bedrock. It is located ten miles southeast of Cascade and twenty miles northwest of Maquoketa in Jones County. 

The area was purchased by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in 1991 and dedicated as a biological and geological state preserve in 1992. It was named after the original homesteader. 

The cave is an important overwintering roost for several species of bats. Entry is prohibited between October‑15 and April‑1 to protect hibernating bats. 

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About the Land

Located in the eastern part of the Southern Iowa Drift Plain, Searryl’s Cave is an excellent example of a feature developed in a “karst topography” (a landscape with many sinkholes, springs, and caves). 

Through time, groundwater seeping along fractures in the lime-rich rock slowly dissolved openings that enlarged into chambers and passageways. This cave, located approximately thirty to forty feet above the Maquoketa River, is 565 feet in length and was formed in the Silurian-age (430 million years old) Hopkinton Dolomite. 

Lining the walls inside the cave are areas of actively forming flowstone, young stalactites called “soda straws,” and clear pools of calcium-rich water in the cave floor. Large or intricate growths of flowstone and soda straw may be thousands of years old. Do not disturb these fragile features. 

Thick mudbank deposits partially cover the cave’s floor. Caution is urged as footing can be very hazardous and slippery.

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Directions

  1. From the intersection of Highway 64 and Highway 61 on the west side of Maquoketa, take Highway 64 west for 14 miles to the town of Wyoming. 
  2. Turn north (right) onto D65 and go 11 miles to Temple Hill Road. 
  3. Turn east (right) and go 0.6 miles to the Temple Hill church. 
  4. Turn north (left) onto 222nd Street and follow it for 1.75 miles to Skahill Road. 
  5. Veer east (right) onto Skahill Road and follow this winding road for 2.5 miles to the parking lot on the north side of the road (sign: Searryl State Preserve). 
  6. Walk northeastward along the marked path for 0.25 mile to the south edge of the preserve.

The cave reportedly holds the largest wintering bat population of any Iowa cave.

Known to use the cave and the wooded areas are:

  • Little brown bat
  • Eastern pipistrelle
  • Big brown bat
  • The rare northern long-eared bat  
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Plants

The woodlands surrounding the cave on the high uplands are dominated by:

  • White oak
  • Red oak
  • White ash
  • Ironwood

Sugar maple, basswood, and blue beech are more common on steep slopes in ravines. Canada yew caps the rock outcrops. 

Missouri gooseberry, alternate-leaved dogwood, and blackberry are common shrubs in the understory. 

The floodplains below the bluffs and across the river are dominated by ash, black walnut, box elder, and silver maple. 

Wildflowers found here in early spring include: 

  • Hepatica
  • Bloodroot
  • Spring beauty
  • Rue anemone 

They are followed in April and May by:

  • Wild ginger
  • Dutchman’s breeches
  • Bishop’s cap
  • Downy yellow violet
  • Solomon’s seal
  • Nodding trillium
  • Bellwort
  • Showy orchis
  • Jack-in-the-pulpit
  • Trout-lily 
  • Wild geranium
  • Red baneberry

By June and July, blooms include:

  • Append­aged waterleaf
  • Wild lily-of-the-valley
  • Jacob’s ladder
  • Purple joe-pye-weed

Leafcup, white snakeroot, zigzag goldenrod, and arrow-leaved aster can be seen blooming in the fall months among the fronds of lady fern, rattlesnake fern, interrupted fern, and maidenhair fern. 

Fragile fern, rock cress, harebell, and smooth cliff-brake fern can be found on the bluffs. 

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Visitor Information

Other natural or geological areas in the vicinity include Indian Bluffs and Pictured Rocks Wildlife Areas and Maquoketa Caves State Park.

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