I was having fun in Alabama but the clock is running out on this trip and I needed to start making miles closer towards home. Decided to take a chance on the holidays helping keep crowds down on a last-minute visit to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.
Campground
Weather forecast at Mammoth Cave looks to be much cooler compared to where I’ve been. November temperatures across the US at the time were much higher than normal; the end of November and start of December would bring a drop 10-20 degrees below average and I think some parts of eastern Kentucky saw like 300% more snow than typical. Right place at the right time, eh?
Before hitting the road I hopped on Recreation.gov and reserved site 110 in the “D” loop. On arrival I found the slope to be way more than expected and my neighbors in site 111 were a bunch of obnoxious jerks. The majority of the loop was unoccupied so I changed up and moved to site 104 with no neighbors for peace and quiet. Temperatures up here by the cave dropped below forecasted lows into the teens, it was cold.
Visitor Center
The next morning I woke up, warmed up with some coffee, then made my way to the visitor center which is basically just down the road. I could have walked from the campground but didn’t realize just how close so I drove instead.
My plan for coming the day after Thanksgiving paid off as the center and park overall were quite empty…at least until around noon when everyone woke up from turkey hangovers. Parking lot is currently half empty, notice I can get photos without hordes of visitors all around. Fantastic.
Mammoth Cave is also recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site which according to their website means “World Heritage is the designation for places on Earth that are of outstanding universal value to humanity and as such, have been inscribed on the World Heritage List to be protected for future generations to appreciate and enjoy.” If you see one of these signs, generally it means you’re about to see something awesome.
Sharing just a few photos inside the visitor center, can’t share them all as there is just too much to cover. Some great displays on life inside the cave including eyeless cavefish and cave crickets.
There are multiple interactive and video displays including this one discussing cave exploration and how it has been mapped.
One room covers how Mammoth Cave was once privately owned as a tourist attraction, and a timeline of how it became part of the National Park system.
While much focuses on the caves themselves, wildlife that lives outside the caves in the surrounding forests should not be overlooked.
Cave Tour – Ruined By Tourists
Another reason I chose Mammoth Cave, aside from being a place I’ve had on my radar for a long time, is that tickets for the cave tours were readily available even just the day before. I reserved the Historic Tour for 11:30am and checked in before going through all the visitor center exhibits. Ticket printed, checked in, everything ready to go.
The Historic Tour covers a 2 mile long route taking roughly 2 hours, and ascends/descends hundreds of stairs and reaches tighter places deep in the cave. Just enough for me before reaching territory of squeezing into coffin-sized passages which is where I draw the line (not super claustrophobic, just a strong survival instinct of where humans named Adam should not go).
I spend a fair bit of time waiting for the tour to start and just enjoying the brisk morning. There are several picnic pavilions where the tours meet up and start.
Here’s where I found out there is a a bridge and many other walking paths heading back to the neighboring lodge which then goes to the campground if you walk further. Lodge looks super nice, if you have the financial means I’m sure it’s super cool, just not my style of travel since I’m not Scrooge McDuck.
This photo is where things should have been going great but was the exact moment things started going wrong. I met with the tour group, we were heading down towards the cave entrance. I’m at the very tail end of the group but all is well. See that group of like eight people off to my right in the distance? Keep them in mind for a moment…
As I was lining up photos of this sign so I could read it better later and maybe post on this blog, unbeknownst to me my luck was fading away. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The cave has a natural airflow depending on the season as changes in air temperature regulate movement and can create winds, in a way. The sign also details conservation efforts to restore temperatures to before human involvement which should encourage recolonization by bats and other animals that rely on those temperatures.
At the descent into the cave entrance, my day was ruined. If you look closely there is a park ranger in front of those eight other people, and I guess I was supposed to be up there. I asked those other people if they were on the tour, they said yes. Then they blocked my way and the rangers closed the door in my face before I could enter the cave. Had to fight for a refund, I can’t fault the visitor center staff but those rangers on the tour did a terrible job of accounting for the group or calling out instructions. No doubt I will be back here, but everyone can learn from my mistakes: make damn sure you are up front and present in the tour group because other park visitors WILL absolutely fuck up your day with no remorse and it’s a real long fucking drive to waste time on these kinds of shenanigans.
My day is ruined and my disappointment is immeasurable. Well, not really but I’m over it. They can’t all be winners, it happens. Apparently this was a long drive to see a visitor center and camp in below freezing weather, neat. Decided just to drive north until my brain cools down. A couple days left to adventure, let’s see what we can find further north from here.
Lat = 37.1873322 , Long = -86.1012192 -- Show at Google Maps