We always take the long way home. The reason we do this is because there is so much to do and see on the road. America truly is gorgeous and you can have just as much fun traveling as you can at your destination. On a recent trip home from visiting family in Tennessee, we decided to head north to Kentucky and grab a stamp in our National Parks Passport Book at Mammoth Cave National Park. We are on a quest to visit all 419 parks and whenever we have a chance to grab one we try and take it.

Mammoth Cave National Park

Mammoth Cave is located right outside of Cave City, Kentucky right off of I-65. It is pretty much halfway between Louisville, KY and Nashville, TN. There is plenty to do around the National Park, but we did not have too much time to explore there.

Mammoth Cave is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These sites are chosen as having cultural, historical, scientific or other significance worldwide. These sites are legally protected by international treaties. Currently there are 1121 World Heritage Sites. After we finish our trek to all of the National Parks we will start on that list. The United States is home to 24 of these sites. Mammoth Cave National Park is on this list as a Natural Site.

Mammoth Cave National Park is massive! When we passed the park sign we still had miles to go before we reached the visitor center and the area of the main cave opening, the Historic Entrance. The reason this place is so big is because the cave is one of the biggest in the world! This cave is the world’s longest cave system at over 400 miles explored. To put that in perspective, we live in central North Carolina and New York City is a little over 400 miles from our house. That’s nuts!

What To Do At Mammoth Cave National Park

This park has way more to offer than the actual cave. Because the cave system is so huge underground, that leaves plenty of room above ground to explore. This park is beautiful both above and below ground.

Cave Tours

If you are coming to this park you absolutely have to check out the cave. There is a fee to enter the cave. Mammoth Cave does not accept the America the Beautiful Annual Pass for cave entrance. There are multiple tours for you to choose from with all sorts of different prices. As of the writing of this post there are 16 different tour options. These range in price from $6 to $60 and come with . These tours will allow you to experience different areas of the cave. There is some overlap in these tours, but they all give you something unique.

These tours only leave at a certain time in the day and have a limited number of availability. Because of that, they will often fill up. It is always best to go online and reserve a spot ass soon as you know you are going. If you are going on a weekend or during the summer, chances are those will be full if you just show up the day of. If that happens, you still have the self-guided tour. We have been here a couple of times and have done both the self-guided and a guided tour.

If you only have about an hour, the self-guided tour is for you. We wanted to do a different tour, but they were all sold out when we showed up that day. The last time we went we were able to go pretty deep through those narrow passages and were able to go to a place where they turned all of the lights out. If you are not claustrophobic and want to really experience the cave, go on a guided tour.

Self-Guided Tour

On this most recent trip we did the self-guided tour. For this tour you need about an hour. It is a good introduction to the cave but really doesn’t let you go too deep into the cave. It had been a while since we had been to the park and we thought we would be able to go a little deeper, but we couldn’t.

The walk down to the Historic Entrance is beautiful. You go through a beautiful forest on the way to the opening. We went in the summer and it was about 90 degrees. When we were a couple of hundred yards from the entrance we could feel the cold air blowing up the hill. the temperature in the cave is about 54 degrees. If you are going there (even in summer) wear long pants and a jacket. It is cold. For real, do it.

If you are doing this tour you can see the Rotunda (marked above) which is one of the largest rooms in Mammoth Cave. It really is huge and is awesome to see. They have some pretty good exhibits that are set up that teach you about the history of the cave. The only thing about them is they can be hard to see because it is so dark down there. Which reminds me – take your time walking. Most of the ground is flat but you are in a cave. Rocks are protruding all over the place. You can also check out the Narrows and Rafinesque Hall.

The Visitor Center

Whenever we go to any park we always stop in the visitors center first. We do this for two reasons. The first reason is to talk with a Park Ranger and get any information we might need. They know their stuff and they are usually really friendly and want to talk and teach. The other reason is to pick up the Junior Ranger workbook. The Junior Ranger program is awesome and we highly recommend it. Silas loves doing them, you get a really great (free) badge when you complete it, and we as parents get to learn as well.

The visitor center at this park is really the central hub of everything. It is surrounded by some of the main camp grounds, a hotel, a restaurant, and is a short walk to the Historic Entrance. This is where you buy or pick up your tickets. This is relatively new and it is really nice. There are two really cool shops and this is also where you get your National Parks Passport Book stamp.

This visitor center has a great educational walk through. They designed it as if you were walking through the actual cave. We had a blast exploring the “cave” above ground. They did a great job with this!

Camping, Hiking, and Canoeing

Mammoth Cave National Park is giant and has a ton of other activities to enjoy. It is a great place to spend a weekend or longer in the woods. they have some great camping spots with all different levels of camping. They have campgrounds with cabins or you can pitch a tent (you can even camp on one of the islands on the rivers Tom Sawyer style). There are over 84 miles of trails at the park, plenty to keep you busy exploring. Finally, there are two rivers that go through the park, the Green and Nolin Rivers. These are great places to fish, swim, canoe, or kayak. If you don’t own a kayak, there are plenty of places around where you can rent one.

Takeaways From Mammoth Cave National Park

• Make sure you make a reservation for the guided tours.
• It can get really crowded here in the summer and on weekends. If you are only going to the cave try and schedule a trip during the offseason. Interesting enough, if you go in the winter it is actually warmer in the cave than outside.
• Bring a jacket, and long pants – it is cold!
• Pack a lunch if you want to avoid the crowds in the cafe (and the prices).

We had so much fun going underground and exploring Mammoth Cave. Something for all ages. Have you ever been to a cave? Which ones are your favorite?

Want to check out some of our other National Park visits? Check out our posts on the Outer Banks National Parks, Booker T. Washington National Monument, and Guilford Courthouse.

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