Mammoth Cave National Park

Central Kentucky boasts the location of the world’s longest cave system at over 400 miles long. Mammoth Cave is a spaghetti bowl of interconnecting underground passageways reminiscent of a gigantic ant farm. The vast majority of the cave is unexplored and inaccessible to visitors, but there are still several areas of the cave available for guided park ranger tours.

The caves were formed around 360 million years ago and have been explored by humans for over 6,000 years. Early Native Americans mined gypsum from the cave and saltpeter, used in gunpowder, became a significant resource mined in the early 19th century. Tours of the cave started as early as 1830 and in 1926 the cave was designated a national park. As you tour the cave, signs of early exploration are evident along with considerable “historic graffiti”.

We’ve been to several caves over the years but were excited to visit this granddaddy of them all. Many of the tours overlap somewhat so we were looking for the biggest bang for the buck without doing them all. This led us to the Historic Tour and the Domes and Dripstones Tour. We wanted to add in one of the lantern tours but they were not available during our visit.

TIP: Tours often sell out so it’s a good idea to reserve them ahead of time on nps.gov. The cost of tours are not included in your national park pass, but you can get a senior pass discount applied at the visitor center when you arrive.

We visited the park during spring break and both of our tours were at capacity of 110 people. Over 100 strangers breathing down your neck in an underground cave was not the ideal scenario for us, but we worked through that part the best we could. These caves are a little different from others we have been in and lack the stalactite and stalagmite formations that you often see. But that doesn’t mean the cave isn’t still magnificent, because it is.

We started with the Historic Tour. The rock is mostly limestone in the cave and overall it is quite dramatic in this mysterious underground maze. The trail winds through small and large spaces and up and down metal stairs. It’s just unfortunate that the pace was faster than we liked to properly take it all in. The second half of the tour is by far the best, with a narrow section dubbed Fat Man’s Misery which was really fun to slither through. The tour starts and ends with a short walk from the visitor center so this is a convenient tour that gives you a good taste of the cave.

We came back a couple of days later to do the Domes and Dripstones Tour. This requires a short bus (as in three) drive to the cave entrance. The tour starts with a 200 foot plus descent down a steep and very narrow stairway, where you are often doing the tango with the cave walls. This part of the cave has a lot more to offer with water features, domes and even some stalactite and stalagmites. The park cautions you that this is a strenuous tour with lots of stairs, but we didn’t find it to be too hard, but yes, there are a lot of stairs.

In addition to cave tours there are several hiking opportunities in the park. We really enjoyed the Cedar Sink Trail which got our legs prepared for the tours. The trail is only a mile and a half or so long, but there are many stairs as you descend and ascend in and out of the sinkhole. It’s really a beautiful trail and mostly suitable for dogs except for one short stretch of metal grate steps, which the pups navigated with cautious perfection.

Mammoth Cave is fascinating and different from other caves we have visited, simply the shear size of it alone makes it quite amazing. What we didn’t like was the crowds and the overly scripted pitches from the tour guides. Smaller groups and a more personalized approach would have made this a considerably more enjoyable experience.

A Mammoth Cave Alternative

If the large crowds and robotic approach at Mammoth Cave isn’t your cup of tea, or you weren’t able to get tour reservations, there are several alternative cave experiences in the area. Crystal Onyx Cave was a great experience for us and close by in Cave City. This privately owned cave was recently fully restored with new walkways, railings and stairs. Up top it’s a little quirky with statues of aliens and such, adding to the uniqueness. Unlike our Mammoth Cave tours, our group into Crystal Onyx Cave consisted of five of us for a very personalized experience. This cave is small in comparison to Mammoth Cave but quite magnificent with plenty of your traditional cave formations. It was fascinating learning about the different rocks and minerals, especially how the clear quartz glows under UV light.

A Visit to Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace

Illinois may be dubbed “the land of Lincoln” but the 16th president of the United States grew up right here in Kentucky. Abraham (Abe) Lincoln, one of the most important figures in American history who led the country through the Civil War and ended slavery, was born in LaRue County Kentucky in a place called Sinking Spring Farm in 1809. At the age of 2 his family moved a short distance away to Knob Creek until Abe was 7 years old. The two locations, only about 45 minutes to the north of Mammoth Cave, are now the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park.

Both sites have been preserved and have small museums and replica/restored structures. the Sinking Springs location has a replica of the Lincoln Memorial on the property that was built in 1909 to celebrate Lincoln’s 100th birthday. The locations give you a good sense of how Lincoln grew up and what those early years were like. One of the fallacies about Lincoln is that he grew up very poor. This is actually not true, as his family was able to purchase land and horses during this time. Yes, he did grow up in a small log cabin as history depicts, so Lincoln had a very humble beginning rather than poor. These were the years when the early seeds were planted that influenced the man affectionately known as “Honest Abe”.

Setting up Camp in Cave City

Cave City Kentucky is the logical basecamp location as it is just a short distance from the national park and close by other area attractions. Cave Country RV Campground, although nothing overly special, served our needs well. The dogs especially liked the large greenspace to run off some energy.

The town of Cave City is small but has a few good places to eat and hang out. Ace Coffee is an amazing coffee shop complete with gift store and large outdoor space. Right next door on Broadway is Pourter’s Pub and Kitchen, a great place for a burger or chicken wings, and The Dive… a good little “dive bar”.

Mammoth Cave is an incredible place, considering the history, beauty and shear size of the cave system. Although I recommend visiting this national park, there are other more spectacular caves that can be visited such as Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico (our personal favorite). Keep in mind, that this is a very popular family vacation spot, so if you can avoid peak seasons, you will no doubt have a better experience. As full-time RVers sometimes you end up in a popular place at the wrong time, but that’s just part of the gig. Be sure to check out all of our pictures from Mammoth Cave and the surrounding area.