Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park

ABOUT THIS PLACE

What is above ground is quiet: a nature trail, picnic tables, and a set of springs and sinkholes with names divers know by heart, Peacock I, Peacock II, Peacock III, Orange Grove, Challenge, Cistern, Waterhole, Pothole and Olsen. What is below ground is one of the longest underwater cave systems anywhere, with more than 38,000 feet of mapped passageway. In 2008 it was ranked the twenty-fourth longest underwater cave in the world, and a connection made in 2010 added roughly ten thousand feet more. It was called Peacock Springs State Park until 2010, when it was renamed for Wes Skiles, the cave diver, photographer and filmmaker who did much of the exploring here. It began as 252 acres, and the Trust for Public Land bought 481 more in 2006. Cave diving requires full cave certification, and the rules are strict: diver propulsion vehicles were banned on April 25, 2002, to protect the passages, and Olsen sink was closed to divers the same year to halt erosion. Permanent guidelines run through selected tunnels. The park opens at eight in the morning and closes at sundown, every day of the year