Picture this: State cave extends tour for better photo opportunity

LEASBURG, Mo. — Taking a good photo takes time. Now, photographers visiting Onondaga Cave State Park in Leasburg, can get what they need on extended photo tours.

"There's no time to set up a tripod to take a nice picture," said Tara Flynn, the park naturalist at Onodaga Cave State Park.

Flynn said the Onondaga Cave Amateur Photo Tour is a reponse to photographers who loved taking pictures of the cave but felt rushed in the hour and a half available on the regular tour. The photo tour lasts three hours.

There are three a year, in spring, summer and fall.

Some of the park's attractions are "The Twins," two huge stalagmites, "The Lilly-Pad Room," which features stalagmites that look like lilly-pads because they stick up out of the water, and "The Rock of Ages," also called the Live Oak, which is "an extraordinarily pretty stalagmite" that is white, tan and orange, Flynn said.

Although it's summer and hot outside, Flynn said to bring along warm clothes because the cave temperature is 57 degrees yearround.

Reservations are required, and only 30 people are allowed on the tour. But Flynn said if enough people make up a waiting list there will be a second tour in the evening.

The tour starts at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the park in Leasburg.

For more information, call 573-245-6576. Prices are $5 for ages 6 to 12 and $10 for adults.