1) We stayed at the Mammoth Cave Campground, and because we reserved a spot, we practically had an entire loop to ourselves the first night! The campground and bathrooms are very nice, but do note that they do not include showers! You can buy shower tokens at the general store or at the hotel. The showers are not the nicest, but they sure felt good as only the second shower of our trip. Another note was that we found our site to be very hard for staking down our tent - you may find a site with grass space for a tent easier if you plan on tent camping. There are also cottages available for lodging, which we didn't realize! Might be a fun way to experience this park!
2) If you have the time, don't skimp on the above-ground features of this park! We didn't have a lot of time, as we only spent one full day at the park, but I was amazed at the amount of trails, picnic areas, and lookouts there were available at this cave-based park.
3) You can always email a park ranger before your trip for tips. This is how we decided which tours to do. I wanted to be sure our tours didn't overlap areas of the cave, and we wanted the most "adventure-y" tour possible, since the "Wild Cave Tour" wasn't available when we were going to be there. I have also emailed other parks with questions, and they have always been super helpful!
4) The visitors center is something I often overlook at parks, but this one is not to be missed. Maybe it was just the A/C, but we spent a lot of time at this particular visitor center. I loved the interactive exhibits, maps of the cave, and videos about continued exploration.
5) The Domes and Dripstones Tour is your basic cave tour. It takes place on established paths, staircases, etc, all with electric lighting along the way. It was a great overview of the history of the cave, and features some of the best cave formations in this mostly dry cave. If you only have time to do one tour, this is probably your best bet! We were with a group of kids on a field trip (the tour size for this one is huge!), which was a little crazy, but it was really fun to hear their questions and see them take it all in!
6) The more adventure-y pick for our second tour was the Violet City Lantern Tour. This tour takes place completely by lantern-light. The tour guides each had a flashlight for pointing out specific things we may have missed otherwise, but the majority of our time was spent seeing the cave by the light of about 10 lanterns (it was a group of 30 or so). The majority of this tour focused on the history of the cave, from Native Americans thousands of years ago, to the first explorers of the cave in the 1800s. Our tour guides were great, and the tour was a really unique experience!
Mammoth Cave, and our trip as a whole, was an adventure we won't soon forget! We checked off national parks 3--5 on this trip, and can't wait to start planning what's next! If you have experiences to share or recommended parks, please let us know! We would love to hear your experiences!
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