Gr8LakesCamper: Mammoth Cave advice
We’re camping at Mammoth Cave in a couple of weeks (July 1-4 to be exact) and it’ll be our first time there for all of us. We’re trying to decide which Mammoth Cave Tours we should take, and we’re hoping we can get advice from others.
We’re thinking one fairly long tour each day. We’re reasonably fit (kids moreso than mom and dad) so we’re open to most anything, but due to the kids the Wild Cave Tour is the only tour that’s not an option.
Also looking for any other advice, too. What clothing is best? And, someone a while back mentioned flashlights?
As for the campgrounds, we’re staying at Nolin Lake State Park in Bee Spring, just a short drive (including a ferry ride across the Green River) from Mammoth Cave. The campground is relatively new, having opened in May of 2001, and there are only 32 sites with water and electricity (plus 60 primitive sites), a restroom/shower building, laundry facilities and dump station.
Recent campers at at RVParkReviews.com gave glowing reports of Nolin Lake State Park. Clean facilities, friendly staff, huge level sites and gravel RV pads. We’ll let you know what we think about it when we’re done!
From the personal blog: Before we set off for Mammoth Cave, we’re camping with extended family this weekend at Seven Lakes State Park in Holly, Michigan.
Gr8LakesCamper celebrates the world of RV Camping in the Midwest. Gather around the campfire and share tips, ideas and stories on RVing, camping and travel destinations. Follow Gr8LakesCamper on Twitter, Facebook and the personal blog.
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Was at Nolin St Park a couple weeks ago. Very nice. Make sure you have plenty of propane as it is not easy to get around there. You can get it at some of the private camp grounds. I think if Mamouth was my distination I would try to book into their campgrounds. A lot of driving from Nolin to Mamouth. Take your own flashlights. They keep it dark inside the caves to prevent growths inside the cave. Vegatation needs light so they don’t have much. I carry 2 Mag lights Led of course and left them back at the truck. I keep saying to my wife b4 we left “I think I should bring our flashlights” but NO she said you’ll be able to see. WRONG Just went on the HISTORIC trip. Will go back for more. Too much to see in Kentucy and not enough time. Went to Cumberland Gap, Cumberland Falls State Resort,Harrodsburg and Perryville Battlefield St Park, and on and on. Go to Land between the Lakes if you got time.Very Historic. Over 100 cemetarys on the island
I visited this area in October 2008 and was very impressed with Nolin Lake State Park. The staff was top notch, the park facilities clean and it was an easy trip to visit Mammoth Cave. The ferry wasn’t running at the time because water levels were too low. Nice ride and easy to get there. I only did 1 tour – I think it was the Grand Avenue – 4 1/2 hours and 4 miles. It was an even paced tour with some climbing but if you’re reasonable fit it’s do-able. The ranger that conducted our tour was very interesting. There’s a break during the tour for lunch (reasonable prices). I’d do it again. If you can plan a trip to Sinking Spring Farm it’s very interesting. Pres. Lincoln’s early years spent in KY. Lots of history in the area. Enjoy.
We were there a couple of weeks ago. No where near as impressive as Carlesbad as to the formationsWe took the history tour 2 hrs and were OK with it. Asked about the formations and they said that a four hour tour and one from the new entrance would both hit some of the formations. the tours go about a mile per hr Wish I could remember the name. You want to ask for the something collaspe, which is the most noteworthy formation.
I hope you buy your tickets online soon b/c you may not get any if you wait to do so when you get there. People literally come from all over the world to tour Mammoth Cave, and holiday weekends are usually sold out!
We were at Mammoth Caverns in April. We took the Historic tour. Even though I have a bad knee, the tour was easy to manage, and was great to see a lot of what is offered. Mammoth Caverns are dry caverns. For a look at wet caverns, go to Diamond Caverns in the same area. All in all, it is a great area.
I’ve been to Mammouth many times and Frozen Niagra tour is by far the best and most reasonably priced but they have a description of the tours on site.
Not mentioned but make certain you take a jacket or sweater fort the cave tour as the temp is constant and cool. Also I wear tennis shoes at the least and good hiking shoes are better. You probably won’t enjoy hiking in sandels. Have fun and let us all know about the trips.
Thanks to everyone for the great advice! We’ll get some more flashlights so we each have one, and we have booked our tours: The River Styx Tour (which includes all of the Historic Tour, plus a little more) and the New Entrance Tour (which includes all of the Frozen Niagara Tour, plus a little more). Each tour is on a separate day.
We stopped at Mammoth on our way across country in 2008. We were not planning a stop but were in the neighborhood and toured the caves. I don’t remember what tour we took but it was excellent. A flashlight is a good idea as well as a light jacket or long sleeved shirt. It was cool in the cave but not very cold. But being in the cave for several hours will cool you down.
Personally I would not spend several days visiting the caves since a lot of the views are fairly similar. However the area was nice and I would think you could find other things to do. For us it was a stop on the way by.
Jim
Mammoth Cave is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. If you don’t know what that is you should look it up on the internet. It is impressive that it is listed and recognized as something special in the world of great places to see.
We went to cub cave run and had the most awesome experience for both us and our kids. THis place comes highly recommended. Have blogged about it three times tonight and have been home just 6 hours. The cave can show you the best of everything. Bats, crickets, lizard type things along with butterflies swarming at the cave opening. We saw stalag – tites and mites, along with colums, pools and a formation we called bacon (because it looked like that). We also saw formations that looked like famous people and animals. We saw remnants of past visitors; a pair of leather shoes and a ladel. The tour guide Lance was his first time and was amazing for us.
The 6 kids came back to the store and the parents got suckered into buying rocks for their mining thing. At least I thought we got suckered. All the kids left happy with big jewels. One of my sons found fools gold and a giant crystal while another found a arrowhead. My daughter was delighted with a huge green stone we have yet to look at to see what it is. Too numerous to count the fun we had here.
To top it off – it is a family owned business. Tourism for them has gone down but their spirits are high and they were fantastic. Love this place and am looking forward to our next visit.
Also found out PBS was there the previous week (KET maybe) filming about this masterpiece.