A Guide to Spring break at Mammoth Caves. Here are a few tips that may make someone else%26#39;s trip a little easier, or better quality. A few opening comments - This trip inlcuded traveling with two boys aged 8 and 9 - one is an extremely picky eater so food was a challenge. Starting from SW Michigan - it was about an 8 hour trip - leaving at 3:30AM EDT and arrived around 12:30/1pm EST (it is actually CST in Cave City, KY where the caves are). If you do not want to eat at Fast food like us, you may end up at three different Cracker Barrels along the way - they are definitely consistent and something you can always count on - each one was just as good as the last.
Taking I65 South was a very easy and smooth traveling. Our accommodations were booked for the Day%26#39;s Inn in Glasgow, KY which is actually a really nice area to stay conveniently located between Horse Cave and Bowling Green. With only two full days for exploring, we had a limited time to explore. Just be warned, aside from the actual National Park this is a VERY depressed area - dilapidated signs, houses, buildings, several of the %26#39;attractions%26#39; were showing lots of wear and or were non-functional at this time of year - that may have had something to do with the Ice storms from January 2009. You may opt to stay away from most of the commercial attractions that you can read about on this site and others on the internet - stuff like Kentucky Action Park, Guntown Mountain, Wildlife Museum - however if you have kids do go to Dinosaur World, we enjoyed it more than expected. The fossil dig was pretty good and the kids got some cool shark teeth etc.
Book your tours on line before venturing all the way to Mammoth. You will be VERY glad that you booked your tours as many will be sold out when you get there. Our first tour was the Grand Avenue Tour led Ranger Jerry -who will tell of lots of stories of his relatives who were slaves and highly instrumental in the exploration of the caves - and he even sings at one point - VERY cool. This is a LONG tour with a lunch about an hour or so into the tour at the Snowball room. The lunch is pretty good ($7.50 each) it includes a tomato vegetable soup, red apple, choice of Ham, Turkey or PBJ Sandwich with chips, a chocolate chip cookie and a small drink . Anyone who wants something different or is allergic to wheat might not be able to eat most of the lunch so you can bring your own - however - YOU MAY CARRY ONLY CLEAR PLASTIC BAGS OR BOTTLES. Although it is great to have snacks and something to eat, carrying a plastic bag up and down steep hills and stairs will be kind of a pain. If you can%26#39;t find a clear fanny pack or backpack - try this...stuff your bag inside your jacket/fleece and then tuck into pants to free up hands! Otherwise you will be wishing you had some other way to attach the bag to yourself. there is a chance you will have leftovers from lunch, the good news is that your bag could be available to also carry apples, bags of uneaten chips (which would have had to be thrown away) and some Z Clif%26#39;s Bars/granola bars that will come in really handy at the end of the 4.5 hour tour on the bus when everyone will all be starving again. If you are looking for cool formations there are some good ones on this tour - the best Stalagmites and %26#39;tites are at the end of the tour.
Our second tour was the Violet City Lantern Tour. It was a very cool tour with interesting history and prehistoric artifacts. I personally like to see the formations and geology - so I would probably not do another lantern tour - but would recommend that if you have the stamina for a long tour mostly in the dark, you should do at least one lantern tour. It is great to see the artifacts - no flash photography so just realize you will not have a chance to collect pictoral memories. Sites on this tour included the Giant%26#39;s Coffin (very cool), the site of the mummified remains found in the cave, prehistoric cane torches and many others. Some VERY steep steps toward then end.
If it rains like on our last full day - outdoor options were a little limited - no canoeing on the Green river as it was too high and horseback riding was out too due to the downpours. One option is the American Cave Museum and Hidden Cave Tour at Horse Cave.The museum is interesting and the Hidden Cave tour is VERY brief - but we felt good knowing that a portion of our admission price was going to further the ground water conservation efforts there.
The only regret on this trip was missing the Diamond Caverns as that looked like a very interesting tour with lots of formations. After calling the 800 number on the brochure to get times - and getting no call back - then driving over anyway the only attraction that worked out due to scheduling was the very nice gift shop there. Tours are on demand, but apparently arriving at 11:40 when the next tour was leaving at 11:45- is not the best thing to do. Our scheduling did not permit working this one in - the tour after that was at 2 which was the same time as our prebooked Violet City Latern Tour and the last one is at 5pm which couldn%26#39;t be worked out either since the Violet City Tour is three hours.
Spring Break at Mammoth Caves
Thank you for reporting back. You have brought out some great tips for touring this area, particularly advance reservations at Mammoth. It%26#39;s also a good point about lantern tours. You really don%26#39;t get to see the formations as well with only lantern light. This is why I have always shyed away from them.
It%26#39;s unfortunate you missed Diamond Caverns. It really does have many more formations than Mammoth and is known as a show cave. If you ever get back in the area again, I%26#39;d highly recommend it.
Thanks again for a great report.
Spring Break at Mammoth Caves
Being from the area, I totally agree with the depressed comment.......I wish that more residents and shop owners would take more pride in their places. Back years ago when I was a child, we would drive into Cave City and it seemed to be a much nicer place then. The Wax Museum across from Jellystone was such a pretty place. There were quaint little shops to visit and it was so well kept. Back then also there was Wondering Woods which is gone now. It was a development replicating early days. I loved going there. I keep hoping that some of these rinky dink places will be bulldozed down and in its place some nice attractions appear!.....Hope you enjoyed your trip anyway...
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