United States Show cave

Mark Twain Cave

12 °C inside, all year.

pasa47 · CC BY 2.0

The descent

The entrance, at 174 m.

The real relief above Mark Twain Cave, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.

The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.

174m

Entrance altitude

from the 30 m relief model

12°C

Inside, all year

the yearly average outside, at the entrance

58m

Rock above

the highest point within 1.5 km

Inside and outside

12 °C inside, all year.

Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 12 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 31 °C at the entrance, 19 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from June to August.

outside, at the entrance (174 m)inside

2°-7°Jan
4°-6°Feb
12°0°Mar
19°6°Apr
24°13°May
29°18°Jun
31°20°Jul
30°19°Aug
27°14°Sep
19°7°Oct
12°1°Nov
5°-4°Dec

Inside: 12 °C all yearEscape the heat: Jun–AugFrost outside: Dec–FebWettest: May–Jun

Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.

Cave in United States of America

Mark Twain Cave is a show cave in United States. The entrance is at 174 m. It has stalactites and stalagmites. It is open to visitors.

Getting there.

Show cave: open to visitorsUsually with a guided tour; check times and tickets on the official site.
Hannibalnearest town · 3.2 km in a straight line
Parking 670 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 3.4 km from the entrance
Quincy Regional Airport Baldwin Field (UIN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 31 km in a straight lineCar hire at STL airport (St Louis)Discover Cars · sponsored link

Plan the visit

Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at STL airport (St Louis)Discover CarsSee prices

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above.

The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.

The ground above Mark Twain Cave (Sentinel-2)

N 1.5 km

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around the entrance.

1other cave entrances within 3 kmMark Twain Cave
1viewpoints within 3 km
4car parks within 2 km
1information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
2campsites within 8 km
8hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmEcono Lodge, Main Street Bed & Breakfast, The Travelers Rooming House and 5 more
11restaurants and cafés within 3 km

springs within 2 km
sinkholes within 3 km
caving clubs and spots within 15 km
marked hiking routes within 3 km
climbing crags within 3 km
named waterfalls within 4 km
bus stops within 2 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Towns nearby

Hannibal3.2 km in a straight line
New London13 km in a straight line
Payson16 km in a straight line
Palmyra20 km in a straight line

In our other atlases

What else is around Mark Twain Cave.

The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.

Peakyas5 mountains within 10 km

Cardiff Hill · 4.1 kmHolliday Hill · 4.2 kmHarrison Hill · 5.5 kmCollege Heights · 6.9 kmLookout Mountain · 8.6 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Month by month

The weather outside, at the entrance.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Afternoon	2	4	12	19	24	29	31	30	27	19	12	5
Afternoon	2	4	12	19	24	29	31	30	27	19	12	5
Night	-7	-6	0	6	13	18	20	19	14	7	1	-4
Rain (mm)	48	49	73	106	123	120	105	100	84	87	61	56
Rainy days	7	6	10	11	15	13	12	11	9	9	8	7
Sun hours/day	4.1	5.0	5.5	6.8	7.5	9.0	9.3	8.2	7.9	5.9	4.8	3.7
Snow on the ground (cm)	14	13	7	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	11

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	2	2	-7	48	4.1
Feb	4	4	-6	49	5.0
Mar	12	12	0	73	5.5
Apr	19	19	6	106	6.8
May	24	24	13	123	7.5
Jun	29	29	18	120	9.0
Jul	31	31	20	105	9.3
Aug	30	30	19	100	8.2
Sep	27	27	14	84	7.9
Oct	19	19	7	87	5.9
Nov	12	12	1	61	4.8
Dec	5	5	-4	56	3.7

Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (174 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.

Photographs

Inside and around.

Mark Twain Hotel 4 — Sa magnuson33 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Mark Twain Hotel 1 — Sa magnuson33 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Hotel Mark Twain - 46067903631 — pasa47 · CC BY 2.0

Recent years

Wet years, dry years.

Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2020	201%	93%	136%	92%	97%	110%	138%	44%	105%	63%	99%	58%
2021	143%	65%	165%	122%	92%	168%	146%	65%	50%	178%	22%	72%
2022	54%	116%	151%	96%	116%	59%	137%	41%	80%	84%	87%	65%
2023	74%	155%	98%	32%	51%	41%	62%	142%	18%	85%	30%	119%
2024	162%	11%	104%	137%	101%	64%	162%	57%	77%	43%	188%	118%
2025	60%	23%	129%	121%	48%	126%	162%	19%	48%	60%	95%	40%

130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month

Caves nearby.

Mark Twain Cave

United States

—Depth
—Galleries
174 mEntrance altitude
12 °CInside, all year

Meramec Caverns

United States · 162 km

—Depth
—Galleries
212 mEntrance altitude
14 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Bridal Cave

United States · 221 km

—Depth
—Galleries
265 mEntrance altitude
13 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Burrows Cave

United States · 299 km

—Depth
—Galleries
151 mEntrance altitude
13 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name, type, published depth and length, visitors	Wikidata (Q6770081) · CC0
The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Climate	NASA POWER, 1991–2020
Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearby	Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beaches

Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit

lakes

Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit

mountains

Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit

waterfalls

Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit

islands

Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit

rivers

Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit

canyons

Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit

caves

Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.You are here

dark skies Darkskyas

Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit

viewpoints Viewyas

Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit

birdwatching Birdyas

Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Coming soonVisit

forests

Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	2	2	-7	48	4.1
Feb	4	4	-6	49	5.0
Mar	12	12	0	73	5.5
Apr	19	19	6	106	6.8
May	24	24	13	123	7.5
Jun	29	29	18	120	9.0
Jul	31	31	20	105	9.3
Aug	30	30	19	100	8.2
Sep	27	27	14	84	7.9
Oct	19	19	7	87	5.9
Nov	12	12	1	61	4.8
Dec	5	5	-4	56	3.7

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	2	2	-7	48	4.1
Feb	4	4	-6	49	5.0
Mar	12	12	0	73	5.5
Apr	19	19	6	106	6.8
May	24	24	13	123	7.5
Jun	29	29	18	120	9.0
Jul	31	31	20	105	9.3
Aug	30	30	19	100	8.2
Sep	27	27	14	84	7.9
Oct	19	19	7	87	5.9
Nov	12	12	1	61	4.8
Dec	5	5	-4	56	3.7

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	2	2	-7	48	4.1
Feb	4	4	-6	49	5.0
Mar	12	12	0	73	5.5
Apr	19	19	6	106	6.8
May	24	24	13	123	7.5
Jun	29	29	18	120	9.0
Jul	31	31	20	105	9.3
Aug	30	30	19	100	8.2
Sep	27	27	14	84	7.9
Oct	19	19	7	87	5.9
Nov	12	12	1	61	4.8
Dec	5	5	-4	56	3.7