Define Fettle Travels: 6 Tips For Visiting Mammoth Cave National Park
Mammoth Cave National Park, established in 1941, is home to the longest known cave system in the entire world. Hidden beneath the Kentucky hills and hollows is this limestone labyrinth. To date there have been over 400 miles surveyed with only 10 of those miles currently open for tours [even less during the COVID-19 pandemic].
In the fall of 2020, Austin & I set out to cross 2 additional parks off of our National Park Tour; Mammoth Cave and the Great Smoky Mountains. I think I’ve written before about how I purposely do minimal research on the actual geography of a destination before we arrive. There are 2 main reasons I do this 1) I thoroughly enjoy surprises and 2) so that I am able to take in an authentic reaction rather than having all of these preconceived notions based on someone else’s experience. If you have never done this in your travels, I highly recommend trying it!
I remind you of this because this park was definitely one that I spent zero time researching and to be completely honest, I was pretty convinced that it was going to be a total dud. I 100% thought of this stop as more of a [check the box] type of place and it turns out that I couldn’t have been more wrong.
We were only able to view a few miles of the cave on a general, self guided tour because of COVID-19 but when I tell you that it’s all I talked about for the rest of our trip, I’m being completely honest. Maybe this place left me completely awestruck because my expectations were set so low from the start but I’m willing to bet that anyone who visits this majestic cave system leaves feeling a sense of complete amazement.
Our experience at Mammoth Cave National Park brought us to 16/63 on our National Park Tour & we cannot wait for you to take in this magical place for yourselves. Below are 6 quick tips to ensure your visit to the park is just as seamless as ours was.
6 TIPS FOR VISITING MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK
If you want to capture any decent quality pictures while inside the cave system, you’re going to want a phone with a long-exposure camera. This is because DSLRs and tripods are not allowed within the cave. All photos in this post were taken on my iPhone 11 Pro [which I was pretty happy with] but please note that videos did not work at all due to the darkness.
Dress appropriately. Even in the heat of the summer, temperatures inside the cave are only in the mid-50s. When there in early fall, I was comfortable with leggings, a long sleeve shirt, a light jacket and a hat.
Reserve your tickets for your tour ahead of time. Due to COVID there are a lot of safety precautions in place at the park [at least as of 2/2021 -- check here to see what the current guidelines look like] which include limiting tours and the number of people allowed inside the cave each day.
Listen to the park rangers and don’t be afraid to ask questions. This is one of my favorite things to do while visiting any National Park because there is nobody more knowledgeable than those who work directly within the park system day after day -- they have a wealth of information to share and if you bypass them, you are missing out on a great opportunity to learn.
Plan your meals accordingly. You are not allowed to bring food into the cave system so make sure you eat a meal or at least have a snack before your tour.
Last but not least, don’t forget to explore the areas of the park outside of the cave system itself. There are many miles for hiking, biking, horseback riding, kayaking and much, much more!
If you have questions about anything, I am more than happy to help so please reach out at britany@definefettle.com. I would love to hear from you and help in any way possible.
Happy Travels!
Looking for more travel recommendations?
Checkout our experience in Grand Tetons & Yellowstone National Parks, French Polynesia & more throughout the blog!
P.S. Head over to my Instagram to follow along with my everyday life and find even more recipes, workouts and travel tips!
