Cave Spring Outdoor Education Programs

Cave Spring Outdoor Education Programs include guided hikes, nature study, ecological studies, and science and nature day-trip excursions. The programs also offer outdoor education that demonstrates Native American and pioneer skills, along with historical, natural history, and cultural history studies. Additional activities at the site include rock climbing, boating, swimming, fishing, hiking, and use of walking trails.

• Schedule: Nature Center by appointment; trails open daily 9am–sunset, 365 days a year
• Price: Guided $2.50, Unguided $1.50

The Cave Spring Association, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1975, operates these outdoor education programs. The mission of the association is to preserve the historic Santa Fe Trail area in its natural state for the use of the citizens of Jackson County, Missouri. Cave Spring serves metropolitan Kansas City as an outdoor education facility and is a favorite day-trip excursion area for science and nature enthusiasts and nearly 8,000 school kids and scouts each year. One visitor described the park as “a naturalist’s heaven.” The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and is officially certified by the National Park Service as a site on the Santa Fe, Oregon & California National Historic Trails, and it is also the site of a SFTA Geotour cache.

Last updated August 1, 2026.