I know I spelled amazing wrong. Work with me here, its for effect! I have always been curious about all the places out there that people have just happened upon throughout the ages. I mean, in the vastness of the earth, what are the odds that someone saw a hole in the side of a hill and said, let me check this out?! Then, once inside, just kept going? Tight spot? No problem, let me squeeze through and see what's on the other side. The history here is just insane. Lawsuits over caves (land) that set precedence, family disputes, manipulation, money & greed, and the list goes on. I love a good soap opera, and the story here seems to provide one. Aside from that, there is plenty to be said about the feeling you get when you enter this monstrosity of a cave. At the time of my visit, they had just uncovered six more miles of caves, making Mammoth 426 miles (and 10 ft - because it was the 50th anniversary of the 1972 connection that made Mammoth the largest cave system in the world, so the original connection crew went back in and proceeded 10ft beyond their last expedition, for old time's sake). Its beautiful. Seeing how water shaped these caves millions of years ago, layers of sand and stone, its majestic to say the least. Our earth is amazing. The shapes and colors she produces, the lives she sustains inside and outside the caves, how she can maintain a constant temperature just a few hundred feet below the surface, it all blows my mind. You need to see it for yourself if you haven't.
I am going to tell on myself a bit. I'm not a geography buff. I can't find my way around with a GPS, and if you asked me randomly where a certain country is on the globe I'd likely stutter and give a vague answer hoping I'm close. I am ashamed to say I had no idea this place existed until a few months ago. I was looking for an interesting place to stop on the way home from a trip to IL and came across this one. I've lived in FL most of my life, didn't vacation much as a kid (a trip to disney when I was about 7 is the only one we ever took). So I thought this was going to be a little cave like Marianna Caverns in FL. BOY was I wrong! The name Mammoth is accurate. There are so many ways to see it. Cave tours are plenty, and originate from from different parts of the cave. While they do charge for tours, the fees are minimal and there are discounts available for holders of the America the Beautiful pass or Interagency Access Pass and I think a few others. There are also a TON of free things to do on the property. One of our guides told us that any of the areas gated off to vehicles, we were allowed to park to the side of the road and walk down to the attraction. I can tell you I spent 11 days here and never ran out of things to do. I think I took 2 days to rest/recover, other than that I was doing some sort of activity whether it be hiking or touring or kayaking. There are several cabins on the property you can rent, there is also a campground on site. I stayed about 15 min away at a Thousand Trails campground since I have a membership and they offer full hookups, but there are plenty of other options. The hotel on site is under construction but when it's done I'd love to stay there!
Back to the activities, all tickets for paid activities on the park property can be found at recreation.gov. If you qualify for a discount, you pay full price online and they refund you at the ticket counter. If you prefer not to do that, you of course can purchase tickets at the ticket counter and pay the discounted price BUT you run the risk of not being able to get tickets to the tour you want to take, and they sell out quick. You can't take food or drink except water, and I highly recommend you bring water. Some of the tours require a lot of steps and you'll need it! You don't need tickets to do any of the hikes or see the inside display at the welcome center. For Kayaking, there are several nearby spots to pop in, and I found it cheaper (and less work for me) to rent one and have them transport it and put it in than to bring my own and pay for a shuttle. I don't know about you but I found the 7.5 mile option to be perfect for me. It took about 4 hours, but I didn't rush it at all. You can take a snack or pack a lunch and pick a spot on the river to relax and eat. It was so peaceful and beautiful.
If you need supplies, there's a store on property, but about 15 min away there are a couple of small towns (Park City and Glasgow) with pharmacy and grocery stores and doggie daycare, but if you want a nice meal out or some (real) shopping options, I recomment heading into Bowling Green.
Please feel free to comment or ask questions if there's something you want to know that I haven't covered.
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