Mammoth Cave – KY (work in progress)

Mammoth Cave is a wonderful place to go and explore the worlds largest known cave system. The cave’s name gives it away as to the size of structure and its main entrance is something to behold. You can go on an unguided tour of the cave within a limited area or you may choose to go on one of the many guided tours of the cave. I would recommend that you book your trip’s tour before you arrive at Recreation.gov. No flash photography is allowed in the cave system making capturing the beauty a bit more difficult. The cave system is lite up during the tour as the rangers turn on and off a series of lights when you pass through the cave. I found it interesting that the first groups of people to come to the cave used candles and “burned” into the ceiling their names etc. and these burns are still visible today.

Campground – I stayed in the park at Mammoth Cave campground. The campground have multiple loops and is very wooded. It is a short hike from the campground to the general store and the cave entrance. You couldn’t burn wood when I was there but the general store did offer a substitute for wood in a mixture of saw dust and wax. The fire was adequate for the ambience and was not needed for heating since it was July when I was in the park. The restrooms were nice and clean but the showers were pay showers at the general store area.

Tours – Within the cave system there are multiple tours you can take as mentioned above. I went on two in one day and if you are going on a tour in the cave pay attention to the number of stairs that you will have to climb when in the cave. An additional note is that there are some tight spaces during the two tours that I went on so if you are a bit claustrophobic take note. I also lost a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses within the cave when I was on the Domes and Dripstones tour. I guess that someone in a few hundred years will find them at the bottom of the cave for an archeological find. Please follow the rules of “Leave no trace” when in the National Park system and I do try to follow the rules but the sunglasses fell out of my day pack during one of the times that I was in a confined space. Domes and Dripstones tour you have to take a bus to the entrance to the cave and are lead through the cave by a Ranger at the front of the group and one at the back of the cave. Dave was the leader of the tour for me and he had a great deal of knowledge of the cave system and seemed to enjoy leading the group. There are many places on this tour where you are doing almost vertical on stairs. The tour takes you past and down into if you wish an area called Frozen Niagara. Frozen Niagara is not actually frozen but is stone that resembles a waterfall that is frozen.