Mammoth Cave is big. Really big. It’s the longest cave in the world, currently mapped at 365 miles, and more is being mapped every day. And it’s just over an hour away, a few miles down the road from Dinosaur World in Cave City, KY.
We made the mistake of not purchasing our tickets ahead of time for the tour of our choice. When we arrived at Mammoth Cave around 11:30am on a Saturday, we found that all of the tours except for the Historic Tour and the Discovery Tour had already sold out for the day. The Discovery Tour is self guided and therefore has no capacity limit, so we really only had one option. If you’re planning a trip to Mammoth Cave, check out all the tour options online. They list the distance, time, difficulty level, age limits, capacity limits and more – all great information to know when choosing a tour. We initially wanted to take the Grand Avenue Tour, a 4 mile tour at a difficulty level above most of the walking tours, but easier than the caving expeditions. Our next choice was the Violet City Lantern Tour, the only other level 3 tour. Both of the tours were limited to around 40 people and did not allow children under 6, which would have allowed for a much faster pace. In the end, we had to settle for the Historic Tour, which turned out to be fantastic, despite the 100+ person group and the large families with small children. Our tour guide was great, very knowledgeable and interesting. At times, the group moved very slowly, but at other times there were challenging inclines and tight spaces that allowed the crowd to thin out significantly. We saw 2 miles of beautiful scenery and enjoyed the cool climate inside the cave.
The Historic Tour turned out to be fantastic, but we’re anxious to go back and see more. Maybe we’ll be ambitious enough to try the Introduction to Caving tour. Or maybe not.
Photo by Topher5.
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