Like Niagara Falls, Mammoth Cave is a classic U.S. travel attraction and remains one of the country's most popular. The first tours of the cave system were given in 1839, but Mammoth Cave didn't become a national park until 1941. Today, it's the longest discovered cave system in the world, with more than 400 mi/644 km of explored passageways.
Native Americans started exploring the cave as early as 2000 BC. The greatest 19th-century caver was Stephen Bishop, a former slave who became a tour guide. Bishop used his spare time to explore the unknown nooks and crannies of Mammoth Cave. He is buried in the park at the Old Guides Cemetery, which visitors can see from the Heritage Trail's well-designed, accessible boardwalk.
There are several ways to see Mammoth Cave National Park, suited to a range of interests and physical staminas. The scenic tours range from 30 minutes to more than six hours, depending on the areas visited. They include the self-guided Discovery Tour; the Wild Cave Tour (strenuous, Saturday only, for those who are age 16 and older and don't mind crawling, getting muddy and squeezing through tight spots); the Accessible Tour (visitors using wheelchairs must have attendants); and the Great Onyx Lantern Tour (through a different cave in the park, lit by lanterns for a historic feel). Tickets to all tours can be purchased in advance. (The self-guided tour does not require reservations.) For all tours, visitors should take along a sweater or light jacket and wear comfortable, nonslip shoes.
Visitors to the national park can also hike aboveground on nearly 84 mi/135 km of trails, take a float trip on one of the park's rivers, camp in one of the park's three campgrounds or at one of more than a dozen primitive backcountry sites, or ride by bikes or horses through the forest. Mammoth Cave shelters more than 200 animal species (such as the bizarre blind fish of Echo River), and the aboveground terrain is home to lots of wildlife, including herons, wild turkey, beaver, bobcat and coyote.
Visitors should allow a full day for the national park. The Mammoth Cave Hotel in the park offers a limited number of rooms and no-frills cabins. Hotels are also found in nearby towns.
Phone 270-758-2180. https://www.nps.gov/maca.
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