Questions on Mammoth Cave National Park

[Sukhoi]

Now that I live 2.5 hours from it I should probably go. Which tours do you recommend and is there anything above ground I should see?

 

[drum]

I went there on vacation when I was 5 or 6. I can't remember the names of the tours but you'll definately enjoy yourself whichever you choose.

 

[NuclearNed]

Tour information

I've taken many of the tours at Mammoth Cave. If you have time for only one tour, take the Grand Avenue Tour. Some of the shorter tours are small sections of the Grand Avenue Tour, so if you do the GAT, you will covering them as well.

 

[Sukhoi]

For some reason the Grand Avenue tour isn't being offered. I called the reservation people and the lady said it hasn't been on the schedule all year. This week I'll call the park itself and see if it's been permanently canceled for whatever reason.

If it is indeed canceled, would a combo of Frozen Niagra, and Making of Mammoth (slightly longer than Historic) be good to fill up a day?

 

[MrBond]

It's been a long time since I've been there. Those tours seem short - more like half a day rather than a full day. I don't remember there being much to do topside, but like I said it's been 10-15 years since I've been there. There are other, non national-parks caves all over down there, so you could probably find others to visit. Mammoth cave is the best that I've ever been in.

I think we did the historic cave tour, which was pretty neat. They talked about how the native americans used the cave and such. We did the Grand Avenue tour as well, but I don't remember the other tours we did.

I was actually thinking about going back for some of the Wild cave tours, but I'm too big. I read something that said you wear a size 42 or larger sportcoat you'll be too big to fit certain places, and I wear a 48, so that's not happening. My shoulders are broad enough that I'd probably get stuck.

 

[blurredvision]

Sadly, I've lived in Kentucky my whole life, and have never visited Mammoth Cave.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Above ground the area is pretty boring. It's just your typical Ohio/Kentucky landscape with small hills to hike up in the woods and narrow brownish rivers to walk along. There are some small overlooks but they're just ok at best. The real deal is in the cave tours. I would just get the one that's the largest and sees the most. It's kinda surprising how the caves just open up underground. Note that in order to access the caves, you MUST be part of a tour, either a walking tour or a spelunking tour. The tours are short, and when I went there the tour guide was pushy, always wanting us to move faster and not straggle behind. I'm a photographer, so naturally I'm nearly always at the end, and his "take photos on your time NOT MINE" attitude was not welcome. Forget getting good photos on these tours. The combination of low light, necessitating the need for a tripod and long exposure, combined with the brisk pace of the tour, make it unenjoyable. The vastness of the caverns make flash photography impossible unless you have something like a flashbang

There are a few smaller independently operated cave tours around the area that I've been told I should see, but I didn't because I was running out of time.

PS: Sleeping in the parking lot because you're too cheap to rent out a campground is cool.

 

[d3n]

The back country of the park as a lot of very nice trails. The hiking this time of year should be great. What is really cool is that you can see a lot of the features of the cave system below mirrored on the surface, underground rivers popping up, depressions that mark cave ins and so on.

At the least I would hike the Eco river trail head that starts at the park HQ. Also, there is a pretty cool book called 'The Longest Cave' that would really make the whole trip a lot more interesting. The first couple chapters If I remember will give you all the background you need to get the most out the park services historical tour.

 

[jupiter57]

Originally posted by: blurredvision
Sadly, I've lived in Kentucky my whole life, and have never visited Mammoth Cave.

I, too, have lived in KY. my whole life without visiting there.
Interestingly, I have worked for my Company now for over 9 years, they are located about 15-20 miles from the park. I have probably driven through there close to 1,000 times on my way to and from work.

 

[Sukhoi]

Originally posted by: MrBond
I was actually thinking about going back for some of the Wild cave tours, but I'm too big. I read something that said you wear a size 42 or larger sportcoat you'll be too big to fit certain places, and I wear a 48, so that's not happening. My shoulders are broad enough that I'd probably get stuck.

Sheesh I wear a 42L I think and I'm not big at all.

At the least I would hike the Eco river trail head that starts at the park HQ. Also, there is a pretty cool book called 'The Longest Cave' that would really make the whole trip a lot more interesting. The first couple chapters If I remember will give you all the background you need to get the most out the park services historical tour.

Awesome, I'll look into that.

fuzzy, good to know about the camera situation. I don't even think I'll bother taking mine in the caves.

 

[cavemanmoron]

There are other Caves in the USA that have tours.

Howes Cave about an hour from Albany, NY is nice.

http://www.howecaverns.com/goings_ons/news_active.php


Carlsbad Caverns is Big, Carlsbad New Mexico.
http://www.nps.gov/archive/cave/home.htm