3 Hours in Kentucky’s Best-Kept Secret: Mammoth Cave National Park
When I embarked on my goal to visit all fifty states, I really had to dig deep to fathom what people saw in Kentucky. It’s inconveniently located in the U.S. It’s not close to the attractions of the western U.S., and it’s too far from Ohio and New York—what I consider to be the gatekeepers of the east for road trip lovers. Once I hit Ohio, I feel like I’m truly on a road trip.
Once I realized the state of Kentucky’s best-kept secrets lay under its surface, I knew I had to visit. Kentucky is home to the world’s longest cave system. That’s right. Little ol’ Kentucky holds the world record in cave system length. Next time you attend a trivia night, you can bet you’ll remember the name of this one.
Mammoth Cave feels suitable for the home of this world record holder. Exploring caves was never at the top of my to-do list until an unexpected trip to Carlsbad Caverns. A group of friends and I aimed to hike Guadalupe Peak down in Texas a few summers ago, and in the planning stages, we realized how close Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico was to where we would be. Naturally we had to visit two parks in one trip. Who wouldn’t?
Slightly kicking myself for not squeezing in White Sands while I was down there, but I will gladly take another excuse to visit New Mexico again because the caverns in Carlsbad blew me away. Here I thought I was just crossing another park off my list, but the caves were stunning. The tour I went on took me through multiple football field length rooms of open space underground. It was breathtaking.
When we were road tripping down to Florida and back to Massachusetts, Kentucky didn’t look too far off on the map. What’s an extra few hours when you’re already driving over thirty hours total, right?
Kentucky is one of three states I had never visited. I truly only knew it was home to the Bourbon Trail and the Kentucky Derby. Turns out, it has a bit more to offer than that. There are countless caves to explore and outdoor things to do. We only spent a half day in the state before venturing off to one of my favorite places in the U.S. (the alluring West Virginia), but that was plenty of time to discover Kentucky’s best kept secret: Mammoth Cave National Park.
Given the poor lighting inside a cave, there is little opportunity for photos. Had to get the classic national park sign shot at the entrance of the park! This also marked park #40 out of 63 for me!
Mammoth Cave National Park became a national park in 1941 and a World Heritage Site in 1981, and it’s no surprise why. Here’s the best way to explore this gem:
Take a tour with a park ranger. The park itself has more than 400 miles of mapped out passageways underground, but only about ten miles of those are available to explore through a tour. Visitors are in luck though because there are countless tours available and they are offered year round! Explore tour options here and book a guided cave tour here. You will need to make an account with www.recreation.gov to book.
Tip: There was some service in the parking lot of the visitor center, but absolutely none inside the center. All tours begin and end at the center, so I highly encourage you screenshot your ticket confirmation to ensure a smooth tour entry.
Another tip: For those of you like me who always invest in a National Park Pass (the interagency one), unfortunately it’s not accepted here.
We signed up 3 weeks in advance for the 12:15pm Historic Tour. It’s a two-hour tour that I felt would be the best bang for our buck (and we also only had a few hours to spend in the park before departing to our next destination). As of April 2022, this tour was $20 per person.
Lucky us, we ended up on tour with an entire sixth-grade class. Nothing more relaxing for two teachers on spring break than being part of a tour of students… Thankfully the park ranger could see our enthusiasm about this, and informed the group that anyone not part of the school group would be at the front. This was ideal!
Our tour guide took us through the historic entrance and told us all about . There are still plenty of miles waiting to be discovered—eight new miles were discovered as recently as the fall of 2021!
The Historic Tour is about two miles long at a slow pace. There are plenty of stopping points, but also fun sections that aren’t for the claustrophobic adventurers out there.
The paved path thinned significantly moments after this sign and caved in vertically as well. An appropriate caution sign for what was to come.
What I found most fascinating was the story of tour guide turned explorer Stephen Bishop, who we have to thank for a great deal of the discoveries in Mammoth Cave.
This tour gave a great taste of the treat that is Mammoth Cave. Like I said before, I’m not a big cave girl, but won’t turn down an opportunity to explore one either after Carlsbad. Mammoth Cave in a few hours felt like just the right amount of time spent to not get bored or tired. There are plenty of other tours to learn more or explore further, as well as trails to walk or bike on above ground.
At the end of the tour, you exit up these stairs. Before returning to the visitor center, you are required to walk across bio-security mats to prevent a fungal disease (white-nose syndrome) from negatively impacting the caves’ bat population.
For me, three hours was just enough time to enjoy the beauty that is Mammoth Cave National Park.
Would you travel to Kentucky for this national park?
If you enjoyed this post, check out others on national parks:
Everything You Need to See in Acadia National Park, Maine
Two Best Ways to Experience Haleakalā National Park
Two Must-Do Experiences in Florida (That Aren’t Disney)
