When size matters go for the largest- Mammoth in Kentucky
Written: Jun 02 '04 (Updated Aug 23 '04)
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Pros: Great guides, fabulous tours, amazing trails underground.
Cons: none
The Bottom Line: This National Park is amazing. We hadn't planned on making it a destination but are very glad we changed our minds.
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| jo.com's Full Review: Mammoth Cave National Park |
On Thursday May 27 we found ourselves at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. We spent 2 days in this amazing cave!
Information:
Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave in the world. The Ukrainian Cave, Optimisticeskaya comes in second at just a quarter of the length of Mammoth Cave. Mammoth has over 365 miles of cave passageways and is 379 feet deep. One of our guides told us that they are sure there are many, many more miles of cave. Some think there may be as many as 600 miles. The 365 miles are those that have been explored and surveyed by human beings.
In 1941 Mammoth Cave and the land above it was established as a National Park. There is a lot to do here, not just the world underground. We kept our visit primarily to the underground world but I will give you some idea of what else there is to do at this National Park.
It is located 90 miles south of Louisville, KY and 90 miles north of Nashville, TN. Located in Cave City it is 9 miles from Interstate 65, exit 53. The Park opens at 8:00AM with some events happening in the evening. The Visitor Center is open 8:00AM-6:00PM (That is Central Time- the time changed after Lexington, Kentucky.)
The first thing you want to do is visit the Visitor Center. We had our passport stamped; bought the National Park book we get at every National Park and watched 2 short videos in the very nice auditorium which run fairly constantly. The store has many books, shirts, caps, related toys for children and videos to buy. Since we were on the early side of the busy season we did not have to get tickets for the tours ahead of time. If you go to Mammoth Cave after Memorial Day you really should get reservations to make sure you aren’t closed out. You can call 800-967-2283 or go to reservations.nps.gov.
Lots of free parking is available. The bus driver told us, though that after Memorial Day the parking lot fills up. I doubt it will ever be totally full but keep that in mind. As you approach the Park look for deer and wild turkey. If you have children with you especially I think they will get a kick out of seeing them. These were very close to the road so drive carefully!
The rangers are fantastic. They are impressively knowledgeable, patient and just plain nice. They were happy to chat with us whether it was during a tour or at the counter in the Visitor Center. I would highly recommend a tour. Actually all but one require a guide. I will give you an overview of the tours and then talk about the ones we did and whether I recommend them.
There is a spring and summer schedule so I won’t get into the hours each tour was scheduled for because these times do change. In addition during the summer more tours are offered than during the spring. May is still considered the spring so we were on that schedule. The tours range from 1/4 mile and 1 1/4 hours long to 5 miles and 6 hours long. Tours are given every day except December 25. Children under 16 must be with an adult. There are some kid activities I will mention and some tours that young children can not go on. If they can and are under 6 years old all tours are free. There is one tour that is wheelchair accessible.
Before we went on our two main tours that were underground, we were told the rules, we were warned, we were asked if we were sure this is what we wanted to do or did someone sign us up and we were coerced. If so some tours will not be for you! Some tours will be on hard packed dirt trails that can be rough and uneven. Some may be wet and slippery. Some have many stairs, steep inclines and declines. If you have trouble walking on uneven surfaces the cave trails may pose a problem. I can’t recommend highly enough hiking boots for the more difficult tours. You may use a walking stick or cane when need is demonstrated but after doing 2 tours I think my hiking sticks would have posed more of a problem then a help.
Strollers are not permitted nor are backpacks and large camera bags. Because of security homeland, they are very strict about the backpacks. There are lockers and one woman had to put hers in a locker in order to get on the bus. The cave temperatures are around the mid 50 degrees F. to the low 60s. I would recommend long pants and definitely bring a jacket with you or sweatshirt. If you have something that will repel water that is even better because the caves are damp and in some places you may get a bit wet.
I’ll tell you about the easiest tour and the most difficult and then the ones we went on. The easiest is called the Mammoth Cave Discovery Tour. It takes about 30 minutes if you do this yourself and 1 1/4 hours if you go with a Ranger. There are no restrooms. The elevation is 140 feet. There are 120-180 stairs. There is one steep hill to climb and this one you do cannot make reservations for. This costs $4.00 for adults; $2.50 for children and $2.00 for seniors. Children are considered 6-12 years of age.
The most difficult tour is called the Wild Cave Tour. This is 6-6 ½ hours and covers 5 ½ miles. Reservations are required and only 14 people can go on this one. There is a restroom at the Snowball Room which is also where you will have lunch on this and other (not all) tours. You will learn safe caving techniques and cave exploration. The elevation is 300’. You will be free- climbing cave walls, do lengthy crawls through areas as tight as 9 inches (If you wear a larger than 42 size pant you cannot do this tour) high, walk in a crouched position, crawl on your hands and knees over jagged rocks and dirt; crawl through wet areas and twist into and out of tight crawlway openings. If you are under 18 you have to be with an adult and there are a variety of items you will need and some that will be provided such as high-top over the ankle lace-up boots with deeply treaded soles (needed) and helmets, lights and kneepads (provided). This costs $45; children are not allowed and $23 for seniors.
A couple of kid things include the Take the Trog Tour which is a summer trip for children 8-12. They can go into parts of the cave no one else (no parent) gets to see. They get to put on a hard hat and headlamp and learn how the cave was formed, what lives there and how they can protect it. This costs $13.00. They can also become a Junior Ranger by following a Ranger on guided activities and recording their own discoveries in the booklet bought at the Visitor Center.
Note- if you are going to do the Grand Avenue Tour do not do the Frozen Niagara Tour because the Frozen Niagara Tour is part of the Grand Avenue Tour. The Rangers should tell you that at the Visitor Center but just in case, this is a good thing to know.
What we did:
We started with what we thought afterward was a great first tour. It is called the Historic Tour which costs $10 for adults, $7.00 for children and $5.00 for seniors. The duration of this was 2 hours and covered 2 miles. There is a restroom at 1.5 miles. We learned about cultural history, saw large passages, and oldest tour routes. Our guide on this tour was good but not as good as on our other tours. There was one reason for this. His ancestors were slaves and worked in the caves as guides from the 19th century and have been guides since. He had only been a guide for 90 days. Although he knew a lot, too much of his emphasis was on what his ancestors did in the cave. It was quite interesting but we didn’t learn as much as we did later in the day or the next day. The elevation change is 300 feet; there are 440 stairs and one steep hill. This is considered a strenuous trail. We didn’t find it strenuous. There are some hazards, though. The initial walk is very easy. The path is cement. It then changes to uneven and bumpy areas. Many, many parts of this trail are very, very, very narrow and low. We found ourselves crouching for longer than some might be comfortable. This narrow path is called Fat Man’s Misery and it truly is.
You do not want to do this trail if you are claustrophobic. Some areas were slick and we did get a bit wet on this tour. The paths open up into huge rooms. The Cave concept is so interesting I think. I loved learning about caves themselves and how they are made. Mammoth Caves are made of limestone via water cutting through the land a long, long time ago. Because water is unpredictable the topography of the caves (by the way a cave is the same as a cavern and is any hole that you can crawl or walk into) change second by second.
Some of the large rooms in which we stopped and the Ranger explained to us include Giant’s Coffin, Bottomless Pit, Mammoth Dome and the Methodist Church. These rooms, for the most part, got their names based either on how they look or what took place here. For example in the Methodist Church, sermons were given during the 19th century. We sat on benches in one room for about 15 minutes while the Ranger talked with us. Other than that there was no downtime.
If this sounds like fun, it is and I highly recommend this tour.
There are also above ground tours. This same afternoon we took a guided walk called The Sand Cave Almanac. This was free and an easy walk down .1 of a mile on a boardwalk. We learned about Sand Cave and a man names Floyd Collins who died in that cave after a rock fell on him. It is quite an interesting story with books written about this man and his life. Then by car we followed the Ranger to Floyd’s house and learned about his life a bit. From there we drove to the cemetery where he is buried today. I enjoyed learning about someone I had never heard of. If it is a nice day and you are looking for an above ground experience that is free, you’ll learn a lot.
The following day we made reservations in the morning for the Grand Avenue Tour. This costs $20.00. Since it was still early in the season there were only about 50 of us on this tour which met at the Visitor Center and then we went by bus to the part of the cave we entered. Usually it takes 118 visitors which seem like a lot of people to talk to at one time! There are always two Rangers. One who leads the tour and one who is at the end to make sure no one wanders and to make sure everyone is alright. Our Ranger, Rick, (Really that’s his name) told us that during the summer months about 3 people a week have to be carried or helped out of the cave.
This particular tour is difficult. This is considered very strenuous and I would label it as such. It is 4 ½ hours covering 4 miles. There are restrooms at both 1.1 miles and 2.5 miles. After an hour, we had lunch in the Snowball room. We brought our own but for $6.99 you can get a boxed lunch consisting of a sandwich, chips, soup, a drink, fruit and a cookie.
As we entered we saw several bats sleeping in their holes. They are tiny and not at all scary. Children under 6 can not go on this tour. There were several children on yesterday’s tour including one baby, though how she got herself and the baby through those narrow passages is beyond me.
During this tour we went through amazing cave passages, saw gypsum growing on the limestone and learned about early exploration. If you want to see stalagmites and stalactites, Mammoth Cave may disappoint you. This is not Luray Caverns in Virginia. However it is unique and like nothing in which I have been. Beside the journey is worth the destination which I will talk about.
The first hour we walked on Cleveland Avenue and then Boone Avenue and these were easy flat walks. The elevation is 300 feet with 670 steps to climb. There are steep hills both up and down. There are grade changes abruptly of more than 60 feet at several places especially the last 1 ½ miles. After lunch we stopped and sat down on benches twice while Rick talked with us. Most of us needed that break for the hills.
There are small hills called the Foothills which I found easy especially going up. Going down was slippery at times. Many of the steps were wet, very wet so keep that in mind as well. There are hand rails in many of the areas. Truly, there were some hills that were so steep you either had to hold the rails (which are ice cold and damp) or rolls down! We then hit Mt. McKinley which wasn’t as difficult as going down the Grand Canyon. (These are names of areas in the cave.) We finished at Frozen Niagara and saw stalactites and stalagmites like I’ve never seen. This is where the journey was worth the destination! As I said I’ve seen room after room of these formations but never have I ever seen anything like the Frozen Niagara and the room at the bottom of an additional 49 steps.
Other things to do:
Mammoth Cave National Park has 53,000 acres of parkland.
~You can camp at one of 3 campgrounds.
~You can hike, mountain bike (They are not rented at Mammoth Cave) and go horseback riding but you’ll have to get a horse outside the Cave as well.
~You can fish.
~You can canoe (Again rented outside the Cave) and take a Ferry or River Cruise.
~You can walk through Big Woods, a 300 acre old-growth forest with trees that are over 100’ tall.
Jo’s Final Thoughts:
I enjoyed every minute visiting Mammoth Cave National Park. It was a unique experience. I could have stayed longer to explore the hiking trails but we had no idea this Park was so fantastic so we only gave ourselves two days. Stay for several days and make the most of all this incredible National Park has to offer. Be careful and be smart when choosing the tour on which you will go. Once in the cave, getting out alone is impossible and it can take several hours for a stretcher to get in. You will hear this from the Rangers and I am not trying to scare you; I am just letting you know that you can rest a bit and if need be a Ranger will walk with you for 5 steps and sit down with you even if it takes the entire day. As we were told they would rather do that than have to carry anyone out though that is done.
Enjoy this resource. Every time a visitor enters the Cave it changes the Cave’s natural properties. Look but don’t touch and leave nothing.
Please feel free to leave me a comment or question.
If you'd like to follow our 3 month journey, I am posting the reviews as I write them:
Applebee's in Ohio
Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky
Bella Notte This is a restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky
Buckstaff Bathhouse in Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas
Bicentennial Mall State Park in Nashville, TN
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, TN
Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN
National Civil Right Museum in Memphis, TN
Graceland in Memphis, TN
Souper Salad in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Taste of Thai a San Diego restaurant
Handlery Hotel in San Diego, CA
Recommended:
Yes
Best time to go: Anytime
Recommended for: Anybody
Review Topic: Overview
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