Destination: Kentucky, USA.
Trip duration 2 days
Following is the full trip map!
Small wonder was one of my favorite TV shows during school days. An American sitcom dubbed in Hindi, it gave me a lot of laughter and also an idea of how the US is. In one of the episode, Ted takes his son for camping. And the whole idea of camping was fascinating. Also I remember an article which came in parts, about an expedition into a cave system in south east Asia (if I remember correctly). In that article the group encounter venom spitting snakes which was kind of scary to hear. The funny part was this article came in a gossip magazine and I didnt realize this, the innocent boy I was ;). These kind article was rarity in that magazine, which usually contains gossips about movie world. After reading the first part of the article, I wanted to read the next part too. So I wanted to immediately check if the next part in available in my father's office library. But because of the "reputation" of the magazine, my dad was reluctant to get it too soon :D. Anyways I got hold of that article which had made me excited about caves. And in this trip I could fulfill both of these childhood dreams
So excited I was, I bought a new cargo pants, trekking shoes and drove for almost 6 hrs after my office! There was strong downpour in Indiana, but it was before it became dark. The long days of summer coming for the rescue ;)! Weathering the thunderstorm and tiredness from work, I managed to reach to my friend's place by 1 am. The next morning we started of from Louisville towards the worlds largest cave system.
Mammoth Cave tours:
(If starting from Louisville, a world of caution: Mammoth caves NP is in Central Time Zone. Also GPS doesn't work that well inside National Park, so I would suggest using App based Map. Also the Cellular connectivity is poor inside National Park. Also there NP doesn't have entrance fee as such but there is cost for booking each tour.)
When we went, we had already booked 2 tours online, for same day (the Historic tour in morning and the Domes and Dripstones tour in afternoon). Both the above tours are available on all days of week. (Do check the below link to see the latest schedule)
The Historic tour is a 2 hour tour and requires moderate level walking. Though the tour will take us to more than 200 ft under ground, it take a smooth path down. However the return path is all stairs. This tour gives a good idea about history of Mammoth caves and is good tour for family. The entrance to this tour is through natural entrance and can be reached by walking from Visitor center
The Domes and Dripstones tour, unlike Historic tour, has so many formations. This is because the Mammoth caves is under a huge cap stone and this stone doesn't allow water from above to come down. Thus there is no formations. However the part of cave system which is not below this cap stone, beautiful formations are present. This tour is located in one such region. The whole of another tour called Frozen Niagara is included in this tour. The Frozen Niagara is beautiful natural formations. This tour is also a 2 hour tour and also requires moderate level of walking. And it does have lot of stairs. Note: to reach the cave entrance of this tour, a bus trip is needed. The people at Visitor center will guide you!
Though not part of trip, we did go to another tour named Grand Avenue tour in a separate trip. This is a 4 hour tour but was only available on weekdays when we went. But now it also available one all days of the week. (Do check the below link to see the latest schedule). This tour has lot of walking and give a good idea about the size and complexity of the Mammoth Cave System. Note the entire Domes and Dripstones tour is part of this tour. This tour gets filled very fast as only 2 tour is available per day. So book early if interested in this tour
Checkout the latest details about tours: Mammoth cave tour list
Camping in Mammoth Caves
We didn't book a camping site before reaching there. The camping sites were full when we reached, especially since it was a long weekend, but we were lucky to get one. So I would recommend to book a camping site online if planning to camp there. To get supplies or food, the nearest town is Bowling green which is 45- 60 min away. There is a store inside the National park but supplies and food options are limited. So I would suggest get all you need before reaching there or you will have to travel all the way to Bowling Green as we did! The restrooms were decent in Camping area.
Cumberland Falls
Cumberland falls, also called as Little Niagara or Niagara of South is in eastern Kentucky and in Eastern time zone. So travelling from Mammoth caves may take upto 4 hours (including 1 hour because of time zone). I would recommend staring early in morning. We did not do that and we found it hard to get a parking spot in late afternoon in Cumberland falls, especially since it was long weekend.
Once reaching there we traveled in two of the trails. The one on Eastern side of river is Moonbow trail that starts from visitor center. You can have good view of the falls after going probably half a mile from visitor center. Going further in trail, you can go to the Cumberland Falls beach area. This was place were families were having some good time. There were boat tours that will take you closer to falls but we didn't take that. This hike was easy.
On the other side of Cumberland river (west side), we took the Eagle falls trail. It was probably 1 to 1.5 mile one way and the hike was good (Moderate difficulty). After decent elevation drop, the trail takes us to Eagle falls. There are lot of rocks and boulders and we had fun climbing and jumping from one to another. Though these rocks are not very high from ground, it was bit challenging.
After being in wilderness for two days, we decided to head back to civilization i.e. Louisville which is 3 hours from here. That was weekend well spent and worth the long drive!
Trip duration 2 days
Following is the full trip map!
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| Full tour Map |
Small wonder was one of my favorite TV shows during school days. An American sitcom dubbed in Hindi, it gave me a lot of laughter and also an idea of how the US is. In one of the episode, Ted takes his son for camping. And the whole idea of camping was fascinating. Also I remember an article which came in parts, about an expedition into a cave system in south east Asia (if I remember correctly). In that article the group encounter venom spitting snakes which was kind of scary to hear. The funny part was this article came in a gossip magazine and I didnt realize this, the innocent boy I was ;). These kind article was rarity in that magazine, which usually contains gossips about movie world. After reading the first part of the article, I wanted to read the next part too. So I wanted to immediately check if the next part in available in my father's office library. But because of the "reputation" of the magazine, my dad was reluctant to get it too soon :D. Anyways I got hold of that article which had made me excited about caves. And in this trip I could fulfill both of these childhood dreams
So excited I was, I bought a new cargo pants, trekking shoes and drove for almost 6 hrs after my office! There was strong downpour in Indiana, but it was before it became dark. The long days of summer coming for the rescue ;)! Weathering the thunderstorm and tiredness from work, I managed to reach to my friend's place by 1 am. The next morning we started of from Louisville towards the worlds largest cave system.
Mammoth Cave tours:
(If starting from Louisville, a world of caution: Mammoth caves NP is in Central Time Zone. Also GPS doesn't work that well inside National Park, so I would suggest using App based Map. Also the Cellular connectivity is poor inside National Park. Also there NP doesn't have entrance fee as such but there is cost for booking each tour.)
When we went, we had already booked 2 tours online, for same day (the Historic tour in morning and the Domes and Dripstones tour in afternoon). Both the above tours are available on all days of week. (Do check the below link to see the latest schedule)
The Historic tour is a 2 hour tour and requires moderate level walking. Though the tour will take us to more than 200 ft under ground, it take a smooth path down. However the return path is all stairs. This tour gives a good idea about history of Mammoth caves and is good tour for family. The entrance to this tour is through natural entrance and can be reached by walking from Visitor center
The Domes and Dripstones tour, unlike Historic tour, has so many formations. This is because the Mammoth caves is under a huge cap stone and this stone doesn't allow water from above to come down. Thus there is no formations. However the part of cave system which is not below this cap stone, beautiful formations are present. This tour is located in one such region. The whole of another tour called Frozen Niagara is included in this tour. The Frozen Niagara is beautiful natural formations. This tour is also a 2 hour tour and also requires moderate level of walking. And it does have lot of stairs. Note: to reach the cave entrance of this tour, a bus trip is needed. The people at Visitor center will guide you!
Though not part of trip, we did go to another tour named Grand Avenue tour in a separate trip. This is a 4 hour tour but was only available on weekdays when we went. But now it also available one all days of the week. (Do check the below link to see the latest schedule). This tour has lot of walking and give a good idea about the size and complexity of the Mammoth Cave System. Note the entire Domes and Dripstones tour is part of this tour. This tour gets filled very fast as only 2 tour is available per day. So book early if interested in this tour
Checkout the latest details about tours: Mammoth cave tour list
Camping in Mammoth Caves
We didn't book a camping site before reaching there. The camping sites were full when we reached, especially since it was a long weekend, but we were lucky to get one. So I would recommend to book a camping site online if planning to camp there. To get supplies or food, the nearest town is Bowling green which is 45- 60 min away. There is a store inside the National park but supplies and food options are limited. So I would suggest get all you need before reaching there or you will have to travel all the way to Bowling Green as we did! The restrooms were decent in Camping area.
Cumberland Falls
Cumberland falls, also called as Little Niagara or Niagara of South is in eastern Kentucky and in Eastern time zone. So travelling from Mammoth caves may take upto 4 hours (including 1 hour because of time zone). I would recommend staring early in morning. We did not do that and we found it hard to get a parking spot in late afternoon in Cumberland falls, especially since it was long weekend.
Once reaching there we traveled in two of the trails. The one on Eastern side of river is Moonbow trail that starts from visitor center. You can have good view of the falls after going probably half a mile from visitor center. Going further in trail, you can go to the Cumberland Falls beach area. This was place were families were having some good time. There were boat tours that will take you closer to falls but we didn't take that. This hike was easy.
On the other side of Cumberland river (west side), we took the Eagle falls trail. It was probably 1 to 1.5 mile one way and the hike was good (Moderate difficulty). After decent elevation drop, the trail takes us to Eagle falls. There are lot of rocks and boulders and we had fun climbing and jumping from one to another. Though these rocks are not very high from ground, it was bit challenging.
After being in wilderness for two days, we decided to head back to civilization i.e. Louisville which is 3 hours from here. That was weekend well spent and worth the long drive!
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