Mammoth Cave National Park

Mammoth Cave National Park: world wonder right in Kentucky

Whether you want to explore American history, view the natural wonders below ground or enjoy the beauty of forests and rivers above ground, Mammoth Cave National Park delivers.

At 367 miles of explored passages, Mammoth Cave lives up to its name: It's the world's longest cave system — more than twice as long as any other. Over millions of years, the Green River carved through layers of sandstone and limestone to create the cave that straddles Edmondson, Hart and Barren counties.

Visitors can wonder at natural cave formations as the Grand Avenue and Frozen Niagara and squeeze past the narrow passage known as Fat Man's Misery. On the popular two-hour, two-mile Historical Tour, visitors can learn the role that Mammoth Cave and its saltpeter supplies played in the War of 1812 and about the cave's use as a tuberculosis hospital, concert hall and the first "air-conditioned" Methodist Church, among other facts. Other tours highlight the many rare creatures that call Mammoth Cave Home, including blind cave fish and the endangered Kentucky sightless albino cave shrimp.

The National Park Service's assortment of tours change seasonally. Options range from easy one-hour tours to six-hour tours for serious spelunkers. While most are conducted by electric lighting, several let visitors tour the cave as it was done historically — by paraffin lamp! Check the schedule and tour descriptions on the Cave Tours webpage; click here for tour prices or here for hours. Mammoth Cave is on Central Time.

Make reservations online or by calling (877) 444–6777 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Central Time. Reservation changes are treated as cancellations and charged $3 per ticket. There are no refunds for cancellations made less than 24 hours in advance. Teachers should call (270) 758–2180 to make reservations for field trips.

Visitors began touring Mammoth Cave in 1816, although Native Americans explored Mammoth Cave 2,000 years before the first white man found the cave in 1797. Mammoth Cave became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. Celebrities past and present who have visited Mammoth Cave include the late President Ronald Reagan, rock star Elton John, author Ralph Waldo Emerson, singer Jenny Lind, naturalist John Muir and actor Edwin Booth (brother of President Abraham Lincoln's assassin).

On the surface — all 52,835 acres of it — there's plenty to do, too. You can hike, bike, camp, boat, canoe or ride horses along 70 miles of back-country trails that wind north of the Green River.

While Mammoth Cave National Park has no wheelchair-accessible tours, those with limited mobility can view the Historic Tour from above along the fully accessible Heritage Trail from an overlook between Mammoth Cave Hotel and the Old Guide's Cemetery. The Frozen Niagara Tour (formerly known as the Travertine Tour) measures a mere quarter-mile round trip with no steep climbs and only 12 stair steps; it's suitable for those using a cane, those who walk slowly or visitors with young children.

- by Ivonne Rovira, Louisville Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)