Mammoth Cave

On one of the days of our vacation we decided to drive down to Mammoth Cave National Park.  Mammoth Cave is just over 90 miles south of Louisville and is the longest known cave in the world.  There is camping and hotels near the Park and some other attractions in the area (we heard Dinosaur World was good) if you wanted to take a trip just to that area.  Plus plenty of above ground hiking, as well. 

At Mammoth Cave there are a wide variety of tours offered based on difficulty level, distance, and for some a minimum age.  Each tour is priced differently.  Advanced reservations can be made for only a few tours and the rest are first come first serve.  We were led to believe that the tours sell out quickly (there is a fixed number of people that can go on each tour) and you need to be there when it opens at 8 a.m.  That was fine for us since the tour we wanted to go on started at 8:45.  If you are doing a trip similar to ours one thing to keep in mind is that Mammoth Cave is on Central Time while Louisville is on Eastern Standard Time.  This benefited us because it gave us a little extra time to sleep in since it was a decent drive and we were worried about crowds.  We arrived at the park about 20 minutes before it opened and there were maybe 5 people/families ahead of us.  By the time it opened there was a decent line behind us but not the mad rush we had been afraid of.  Our tour group was pretty large (our tour took up to 40 people) but I don't know that it sold out or if it did, it happened right before the tour left.  After out tour, when we were leaving, the Visitor's Center was much busier so it may be harder to get on the later tours.  While we were waiting for our tour we noticed most people carrying sweatshirts or jackets.  I guess it had never crossed our mind that it would be that cold in the cave and we were all dressed in T-shirts and shorts.  We found out that it is generally around 50 degrees inside the cave so we actually tried to buy sweatshirts for the girls in the gift shop but they only sold adult sizes.  For us, it ended up not being a big deal maybe because we went on a relatively short tour but it didn't really feel that cold.  In all honesty, by the end I was sweating after carrying my 30 lb daughter up and down 45 stairs.  

We wanted to choose a tour that would allow for us to bring our small children.  When choosing a tour and before we went on the tour we heard a lot of "you need to know your children and yourself" and lectures about how you need to be sure that you can go on the tour because if you have a panic attack or other health issue it is difficult for them to get anyone in to help you because it is such a remote location.  I was starting to have a panic attack just listening.  Since neither my kids or I had never been in a cave before I wasn't really sure how anyone would react so really all the lectures did was increase the anxiety level.  We chose probably the most basic tours - the Frozen Niagara Tour.  The tour was 1 hr. 15 minutes but we were only in the cave for about 45 minutes because it took 15 minutes to get to the entrance by bus.  I thought the tour was pretty cool and very good for small children.  Most of what we walked through had decently high ceilings and you didn't have to walk through anything too tight.  Although I'm only 5'4 so some people may have had a different experience.  Even though it was a short tour we supposedly were able to see the majority of the different kind of formations you would see throughout the cave.  My older daughter did kind of freak out inside the cave.  She kept saying she was scared and she wanted to leave but we kind of pushed her through the whole thing because we thought it was a great experience and wanted her to overcome her fear in a situation when nothing bad was going to happen.  At the beginning of our tour, our guide turned out all of the lights for a couple of minutes so we could see what it was like down there and see total darkness.  She actually didn't freak out during this period but I don't think it helped.  She made it through, though, and while I wish we could have done one of the longer, more in depth tours I think the tour we went on was perfect for small kids.  My younger daughter wasn't scared at all but I think she just had no understanding of where we were.  We were never that far from the entrance/exit so it would have been possible to leave at anytime if we had to.  Since we've been back from our vacation my daughter has been telling everyone how super cool it was in the cave so I think the experience, freaking out included, turned out to be a good one.  And I have to agree with her - Mammoth Cave is a super cool place to visit.