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Need tips for Mammoth Cave trip next week (!)

DiskDoctr
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Months of anticipation, now it's upon us and we are NOT prepared with any information. Any tips and info would be MUCH APPRECIATED!

Looking to visit Mammoth Cave in Kentucky next Wed eve for about 3 days or so.

Anybody been to the cave? Tours? Handicapp accessible (limited walking ability, or we can push in a wheelchair, depending)?

Best tours to take? Close/nice site with AC and optionally water?

We are taking an older couple with us with a hip replacement, bucket list stuff, probably one of them will want to go on an abbreviated tour with limited difficulty and walking, but then want good electricity and comforts for her at the camper while the rest of us go back to the cave.

No pets, no smokers, etc here. Though we don't mind parking in pet areas, either.

Are there tour times, self-tours, private tours? Any touring companies? One better than others, etc?

My family is going to continue from there to Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas, the other four will return home from there.

Got a tip or info, please share it! If your itineraries or plans were/are private, PMs are okay, too ๐Ÿ™‚

Thanks!
16 REPLIES 16

DiskDoctr
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Our trip was GREAT! Thank you all for the tips and recommendations.

LONG version below.

We stayed at Singing Hills RV Park. Simple, close spots, extremely clean and calm, VERY nice people- every one we met was friendly and relaxed.

The owners are WONDERFUL! I had a vehicle problem and needed a special tool, which he told me to hold on a minute and returned with just the right thing ๐Ÿ™‚ I tried to buy him dinner, but he wouldn't accept.

Interesting folks. If you get a chance to chat with them, they have a very interesting and impressive background. They really love having their campground and it shows! We'd go back there in a heartbeat!

Horseback riding about 10 mins from the campground.

Thanks, Rav for that great recommendation ๐Ÿ™‚ Places like this make us think hard about becoming GoodSam members again...

We took several tours of Mammoth Cave. My favorite was "Domes and Dripstones" with lots of steps and some narrow passages. Very "tour friendly" with no crawling or mud, though. It has lots of formations, Frozen Niagra (whose tour was fully booked and unavailable), huge holes down and up, and very relaxed.

An earlier tour by lantern the previous night was interesting, but run more like a forced march than a tour. The main guide was very friendly and interesting. The other fellow seemed irritated to be working the last tour of the night. No problems, but the difference between the tours was more than subtle. Both interesting, but the D&D was better, IMHO.

Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas was a very nice place to stay as well. We had a great spot facing the woods, which worked out great for us. Again, we met some nice folks walking their dogs who stopped and struck up a conversation.

But be prepared, if you want a Walmart, it is in Nashville, Arkansas, about a 2hr round trip from the park. Also the closest NAPA (friendly local folks), LOL.

It is H-O-T out there digging for diamonds. We have some screened gravel to go through, but haven't found any yet.

Went about an hour or so north to Wegner Crystal (Quartz) Mine. Fantastic place to go. Easy to find crystals, friendly and knowledgeable folks when you return and look at your "treasures" LOL.

We then went to Oklahoma and south to Texas, later back up through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, WV and back to PA. Going there, we went south from Ohio through Kentucky and Tennessee into Arkansas.

We liked the return route better and found Casey, Illinois. Home of the "Largest" things. Worth the 10 minute side trip ๐Ÿ˜‰

We overnighted at Boomland RV Park. Very simple, cheap, walking distance to the restaurant and pizza place, store, fireworks store. Bathrooms were...a very low standard, but $12 a night and we had our own facilities. Not the best place if you need a shower, though ๐Ÿ˜‰ It had full hookups, but we only connected the electricity for the A/C, never even disconnected the camper.

A little more rocking with 6 people in the camper with no landing gear down and slides out, but no problems. Made for a really easy breakfast and then early start back on the road. The breakfast at their restaurant..."Cold and Old" would be a fair statement.

Cafeteria style and not cheap, but charming place. Bacon, sausage, eggs, all c-o-l-d. But the coffee was Hot! ...and NO DISHES in the camper ๐Ÿ™‚ Definitely convenient and the food was edible. Okay for one night.

Overall a nice stopover with easy access to meals and an interesting store with about 100 different kinds of hot sauces, lots and lots of souvenir things, snacks, honey, homemade jams, etc.

Our final stop was at "Tomorrow's Stars" They took us for an overnight at the last minute, met us at the office, had a FHU pull through ready, and were very polite. BUSIEST RV Park we've been to date.

It was late so we didn't get to try the pool and other facilities, but they looked nice. Must've been 100 RV's, both long and short term it seemed, and the guys on the golf cart...they are park security. If you're stopped at an intersection and giving them right of way so you can turn into that road, they are waiting and watching you if you haven't spoken yet to make sure you are supposed to be there.

Makes for a "Mexican Standoff Moment" LOL! They might have been motioning or something, but they had lights on the front and I had just driven quite a distance so I couldn't see them. Again, no problems and nice fellows, just thought you'd all appreciate the visual ๐Ÿ˜‰

It was the LOUDEST THUNDERSTORM we've been in while camping. Actually set off my full vehicle alarm, which has never happened before. You know the impact alarm...yeah, no wonder it also took out the electricity in the park! Glad it was 74F overnight instead of the 85F-95F of the earlier places. We were fine with fans and no A/C.

...though I was awakened by some panicked teenagers when the power went out and they weren't sure what to do. They 'claim' they were concerned about the fridge with the power being out, but I suspect it was more about the AT&T Mobley was on the AC line. I accused them of panicking: "The Internet is..down! The world might end!..Facebook is Un-available...what do we do?!?!" It was fun for me ๐Ÿ™‚

Power was back on at some point and topped off the batteries. We stopped various places during our travels and extended the living room/kitchen slide. Not sure yet how much battery capacity it uses or how much we have yet, so watching that carefully.

The other really, really good choice we made was going with the more expensive and higher speed rated tires for the camper. It was nice to travel at 70-80mph when we could, without worrying about overheating the tires :C

DiskDoctr
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Thanks for the tips!

Domes and Dripstones is one of the tours we are signed up for.

I've been working on getting our TV and camper prepped for the trip and let the tour selection up to the rest of the group. We are going to be 8 people on this trip, the most we've attempted, but now also in a much different camper.

Should be fun!

OldRadios
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We have been yo Mammoth Cave several times. We stay in the park campground $10/night with National Park pass and a discount on all the tours. Short walk from the campground to the visitor center and start of tours but no hookups. There is water available and a dump station along with a laundry and general store. Our favorite tour so far is the Domes and Dripstones Tour. We have never had a problem getting a tour but you might ask to avoid tours that have large school groups (very noisy) . That shouldn't be too much of a problem this time of year. We had no problem with AT&T cell service.

Watch out for poison ivy as it has been on the trees at the edge of a couple of our campsites. When I asked the ranger, I was told it's a National Park so they won't get rid of it. I told them they better quit mowing the lawn then.
2006 Fleetwood 26Q
2010 Harley Softail Toad
2015 Ford Focus Toad
Upstate (the other) New York

DiskDoctr
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Thanks, all!

Sorry I was slow in getting back to this. I have the rear driveshaft off our TV at the moment = little bit busy getting ready, LOL.

We hope to have as much fun as you all have :C

Braces
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One day for Mammoth Cave is probably enough. We did a day trip to "The Kentucky Horse Park" which we enjoyed very much. The scenery on the drive was nice also. Also stayed at Singing Hills @ Cave City, nice, quiet Mom and Pop cg. Needed to make a Walmart run and they referred us to the cleanest, nicest Walmart I have ever seen

rangerbob1969
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There are two RV campgrounds inside the park. Headquarters campground located close to the visitors center and Maple Springs across the green river ferry. HQ campground doesnt have water or electric but Maple Springs does have both. But dont plan on taking any RV across the ferry as its for cars only. But Maple Springs is the most secluded in the park and if you have a toad then your all good. Accessing Maple Springs is a trip on the outside of the park with your RV.
Check out my new web site Mymammothcave.net for all the details and lots of pics.
OH and cell service is non existant in the park.Drops off to the dead zone almost immediately. But thats ok for a vacations I think.

SDcampowneroper
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Cave Country Rv Park in Cave City, Ky. has all you wish for. We thouroughly enjoyed our 2 week stay there last Dec.

DiskDoctr
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How's the cell coverage at the park(s)?

AT&T or Verizon. I have a Mobley I'd like to use :C

DiskDoctr
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rav wrote:
funny we went from Little Rock to Mammoth Cave


See that, we could've saved money by booking a "round trip" and splitting it! LOL :C

I spoke with Beth and booked our Mammoth Cave leg. Thank you!

We're planning on overnight at the Flying J or somewhere along the way so we don't come in too late and disturb the other guests. She expressed her concern and we offered. We appreciate when the owners look out for all there guests ๐Ÿ˜‰

We'll get up in the am and do breakfast, then head to the campground.

rav
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funny we went from Little Rock to Mammoth Cave

DiskDoctr
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rav wrote:
it was about 15 minutes or so- Signing Hills is also part of Passport America.
make sure to check out the green river ferry-
we had lunch at the green river cafe at the inn and it was surprisingly good.


Excellent, thanks!

I left a message at the campground, requesting a callback to make reservations.

Our second leg in Arkansas is booked ๐Ÿ˜‰

rav
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it was about 15 minutes or so- Signing Hills is also part of Passport America.
make sure to check out the green river ferry-
we had lunch at the green river cafe at the inn and it was surprisingly good.

DownTheAvenue
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www.nps.gov/maca

The National Park Service's website should answer your questions.

DiskDoctr
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rav wrote:
we just went last month. we stayed at the Singing Hills Campground, it was very nice and peaceful.


On the map it looks like that campground is a bit of a drive? About how far/long is it from the visitor center?

Thanks ๐Ÿ™‚