Places in Kentucky: Mammoth Cave National Park

Basic Information

• Name: Mammoth Cave National Park
• Where: Kentucky
• Founded: July 1, 1941
• Cost: Free entrance; cave tours at additional cost
• More Information: NPS website

Directions

To get to Mammoth Cave National Park, from Louisville take I-65 south to Cave City.  At Cave City exit from the Interstate and follow the signs that take you to State Road 70 that leads west to the National Park.  Another option to get to the park is to exit from I-65 at Munfordville and then take State Road 88 west.  When it gets to Cub Run then go south on Road 728 which is a back road into the park.

Parking

There is a huge parking lot at the visitor center which gets full later in the day.  Additional parking is found near the other amenities located at the park that are all within easy walking distance of the visitor center.

Narrative

One of the best things about visiting Mammoth Cave National Park is the drive.  If time allows I recommend taking the back road route to the park instead of the Interstate in order to enjoy the rolling green hills of western Kentucky.  Additionally you get to take a ferry boat across the Green River:

The Green River was a vital water source in the area for early settlers who used the land around the park for agriculture.  Additionally ferries big enough to haul wagons across the river were operated to move people and crops:

It is pretty neat that a ferry even to this day is still in operation:

A short distance from the Green River is the Mammoth Cave National Park Visiter Center:

The visitor center looks like newer construction and is really quite nice:

The inside of the visitor center is huge with many park rangers on duty signing people up for cave tours:

Most of the caves in the park require a reservation since they are guided.  To be able to get the tour you want you can reserve online or arrive early to the visitor center and wait in line to get a spot.  After I booked my tour I then walked around and checked out the various historic displays in the museum.  One of the displays described how slaves used to be the primary tour guides around the caves before it became a National Park:

Outside of the museum there is even more displays to see about the tourism railroad that once went to the park:

The railway no longer exists, but an engine and a passenger car are on display for visitors to see:

Here is the signboard that describes Engine No. 4 that once traveled to the park:

Here is a closer look at the engine:

Here is a closer look at the passenger car:

After checking out the train display I then walked over back to the visitor center to meet up with my assigned tour group  to go to Mammoth Cave.  A park guide took our group on a short walk through the forest:

We soon came to the opening to Mammoth Cave:

A sign near the entrance shows the geology of how the cave was formed:

At the opening of Mammoth Cave there was a lot of water flowing down from above; I imagine during rain storms this likely turns into a waterfall:

From the entrance there is a well maintained paved walkway into the cave:

As we walked into the cave the guide pointed out historic sites such as these old wooden pipes that water once flowed through from the cave’s entrance to the mining operation deeper in the cave:

We soon came to a huge rounded and open area of the cave called the Rotunda:

The Rotunda is extremely impressive and also where a saltpeter mining operation once was:

Dating back to the War of 1812 the majority of the saltpeter in the United States was coming out of Mammoth Caves:

From the Rotunda we then moved deeper into the cave:

We then came to a stairwell that led to a more compact corridor in the cave system:

Since the corridor was more compact, visitors over the years used to write their names on the roof of the cave using the smoke from candlelight:

Our guide said that after emancipation the former slaves that guided the tourists used to charge them for the opportunity to leave their name on the cave roof.  It was a very profitable money making venture for the guides:

Some of the names had dates with them that ranged from the early to late 1800’s:

Since the cave environment is so stable these names will remain for hundreds of years:

Another money making venture that the guides had was to allow groups to pile stones along the path:

One column of rocks was especially large:

Here is another column of rocks that touches the roof of the cave:

We then came to a section of the corridor that had a number of impressive stalactites:

Many of the visitors were impressed with the stalactites, but since I have visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park before I really wasn’t all that impressed:

I have seen far more impressive stalactites in Australia as well.  However, it was still cool to see the rock formations at Mammoth Cave:

After checking out the stalactite area the guide then turned the group around and we traced our steps back to the cave’s entrance:

Once out of the cave I then followed the Dixon Cave trail around the hill:

It was a pretty walk through the forest:

I then came to the Bat Cave, no not one where Batman hangs out, but instead real bats:

There is an overlook that allows people to look into the cave, but since it was daylight I could not see any bats milling around. After finishing checking out the bat cave I then finished walking around the hill back to the parking lot.

Conclusion

Overall it was a nice visit to Mammoth Cave National Park, however people that have visited Carlsbad Caverns will likely feel not as impressed by Mammoth Cave.  Something that Mammoth Cave does have over Carlsbad Caverns is accessibility.  Mammoth Cave is within easy driving distance of many population centers that makes this a very popular National Park.  Get ready for crowds, but the National Park Service does a good job managing them. if visiting Kentucky again I will definitely visit the park again to take a different cave tour to see another portion of the cave.