Central of Kentucky, on the way from Louisville to Nashville, Mammoth Cave National Park is a unique national park to explore if you are visiting Kentucky or Tennessee. Mammoth cave is the longest cave system known in the world (more than 400miles mapped passageways). The best way to explore the national park is through guided tours, although there are several above-ground trails for self-guided hiking. The popular tours are sold out very quickly. It is recommended to book 2-4 weeks in advance or even earlier if you plan to go at peak time such as weekends or national holidays. If you are a first timer, Frozen Niagara Tour (Easy), Grand Avenue Tour (Difficult), Introduction to Caving Tour (Difficult) are recommended. Each tour is unique and worth going in its own ways. Introduction to Caving and Wild Cave are two “wild” tours that will allow you to venture away from the developed parts of the cave into muddy crawls and dusty tunnels.
I visited the Mammoth Cave during Memorial Day weekend, and did the Introduction to Caving tour. I booked the tour online 3 weeks in advance, at which time the Frozen Niagara and Wild Cave tours were already sold out. The Introduction to Caving ends up to be a very good choice as it is much less intensive than the Wild Cave tour especially for the first timer (according to our guide) but it offers a unique experience to get to know caving and get dirty.
The tour started at the visitor center. You need to pick up your ticket first and then meet outside the visitor center with your guides. A shuttle will take you to a location where uniforms, kneepads, helmets and headlights will be provided. There are also lockers to keep your personal belongings. The Introduction to Caving tour involves a lot of crawling and climbing, so it is not recommended to bring anything expensive such as watch and jewelries. Phone should be secured in your pocket if you want to take photos during the tour. We put a GoPro on the helmet and took videos and photos. The whole tour is about 1 mile, but takes about 3 hours. The tour covers basic rules and techniques of caving, and involves some team work. We had a lot of hand and knee crawls, butt slidings, and crouching walks.
Depending on your guides, the tour path maybe different. We covered a little Frozen Niagara at the end. Most part of the tour is in non-paved wild cave passage ways, and some of the sections have water to the ankle. You will see some fossil corals and live crickets in the cave. Unfortunately, due to white-nose syndrome, we didn’t see bats.
The tour is a very special national park experience. We appreciated the cave nature by touching and hugging the earth. It is definitely worth trying if you are fit and active. It is suggested to do the Introduction to Caving tour first, before you try the Wild Cave tour which is 6 miles 6 hours tour. We will definitely do the Wild Cave tour next time!
Things to know before you go:
- Mammoth Cave is at Central Time Zone, but some parts of Kentucky are East Time Zone.
- Make reservation of the tours in advance.
- Wear good hiking shoes and comfortable light clothes, and bring extra foot ware.
- Allow enough time to find a parking space and get the tickets.
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