Kentucky - Mammoth Cave National Park

If you thought Carlsbad Caves were fascinating, you will find the Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky is truly awe inspiring. The Mammoth caves are the longest cave system in the world and needless to say are the most prominent feature of the park.

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The caves are known for their limestone and sandstone formations. The park service organizes several guided tours of different parts of the caves. Most of these tours are moderately challenging in nature, thanks to the rough terrain of the caves. The most popular tours are the ones that take visitors to the cave's most well known features- Fat man's misery and Frozen Niagara. In case you are in a more adventurous mood, you can take 'wild tours' to the caves' relatively unexplored areas.

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Apart from the caves, the park has several other attractions as well. These include-

The Big Woods- These woods offer a glimpse of the old Kentucky forests.

The Green River Bluffs- As the name suggests, the bluff promises amazing views of the Green River valley.

River Styx Spring-The spring flows from the cave and merges into the Green River.

Engine No.4- This is the workhouse of the old Mammoth Cave railroad.

The Cedar Sink- This is a stunning downhill trail adorned with vividly colored wildflowers (in springs), sparkling streams, that leads into a huge sinkhole.

The Green and Nolin Rivers that flow through the park, promise excellent recreation opportunities like kayaking, canoeing, fishing, swimming and riverside camping. The rivers' slow current, dramatic bluffs, lush green banks, sandbars, little islands and subsurface springs make canoeing and kayaking extremely pleasant. As you paddle lazily through these gorgeous rivers you may even be able to catch glimpses of the park's varied wildlife. To fish within the park's premises you do not need a state fishing license. Apart from the two rivers you can also go fishing at the Sloan's Crossing Pond and the First Creek Lake.

If you want to camp on the flood plains you will need to obtain a free back-country use permit. The park also offers a designated camping area along with the river bank-Houchins Ferry Campground. This ground is fairly well equipped and works on a first come first sever basis only. Apart from Houchins Ferry Campground the park has two more well equipped designated camping areas-The Mammoth Cave and The Maple Springs campgrounds.

With so much on offer, you will definitely make some wonderful memories on your Mammoth cave vacation!

Kentucky - Mammoth Cave National Park

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Mammoth Cave, Kentucky - World's Longest Cave

Drove to Mammoth Cave, We are staying at Diamond Caves Resort. Our campsite abuts up to Mammoth Cave National Park. The resort has a nice workout room and Jacuzzi, which we tried.

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Drove the seven miles to the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center to check out the available tours. We signed up for the Star Chamber Tour the next afternoon. I wanted to go on the Wild Cave Tour, a six-hour adventure, but the only tour of the week was already full. Too bad.

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Took the Star Chamber Tour. Mammoth Cave is the longest cave in the world, 300+ miles on five levels, which have been explored so far. The cave is still alive on the lowest level where the Green River and its tributaries continue to erode away the limestone. The cave remains at 54 degrees as a constant temperature. On the tour we saw the mining operation from 1812 with the wood and artifacts still intact (no decaying in the cave). We saw the Tuberculosis Huts, which was an experiment of Dr John Croghan in the 1840s, where the patients lived for up to six months in the cave.

The Star Chamber is names for the pieces of gypsum knocked off the soot covered ceiling, causing it to look like a starry sky. The guides also turn off all the lights for a couple of minutes to give the visitor the experience of total darkness. All of these sights were on level two of the cave. We then went to level one, where the earliest tours were conducted in the 1820-40s. The tourists paid the guides to write their names on the ceiling using the smoke from candles. The same names are repeated many times. It seems that the caves had many returning customers. Along the passageway are monuments or cairns of stones placed on top of each other. These too were built for the tourists who visited here.

Mammoth Cave, Kentucky - World's Longest Cave

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