Mammoth Cave

johnthen · 06-26-2008, 05:23 PM

Hello All,

Heading to Mammoth Cave, KY 1st week in August. Never been there before and I was wandering if someone might be able to suggest where to stay. I noticed that Mammoth Cave Campground doesn't have any hook ups and some of the other campgrounds are kinda pricey. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks

**KyDan** · 06-26-2008, 07:06 PM

We love Mammoth cave National Park.
It's exactly 100 miles south of us and so it's within my favorite radius--
which is one tank of gas round trip.

We usually go in Spring or Fall and don't miss the electric hookups.
We can use our fantastic fan at night for 3 nights on one battery.
The caves are nice and cool on the hottest days so we typically
hike in the mornings, cave tour in the afternoons and veg out
in the evenings.
In August, it's likely gonna be hot even at night but not as hot as
you might think.
If you add a little 12v oscillating fan inside directly on your bed you
can do this with no hookups. They have pay showers which are decent
but not the greatest.

You might want to reserve your cave tours since you're going in prime time.
They have several and all are neat.
We particularly loved the ones that cover all 4 levels of the cave
and the "lantern" tour where they take a group of 20 people
and hand out 6 or 7 little kerosene lanterns spread out in the group.
Then you do a cave tour with just that light.
It's spooky but much more like the cave tours of the 1800s.

I know you'll love the park. Bring jackets to wear in the caves.
You are not allowed to carry ANYTHING in the cave except
a water bottle in your hand or a camera in your hand.
If you have a little belt holster for your camera or cell phone they make
you rent a locker to hold it so you might as well leave it in the car trunk.
You cannot have ANY purse, fanny or belly pack or any holster of any kind.
Carry a small camera and a bottle of water if you want to but you won't
get thirsty in the cave if you drink up before the tour.
Take an evening ride on the little Green River boat.
It's totally neat and a nice way to spend a hot evening or even
a cool one!

If you were going in cooler weather I'd recommend a hike in the back side
of the park but ticks will be kinda bad this time of year.
There are several trails near the visitor center which are cleared
enough that ticks should not be a problem but you always want to
check carefully after any hike.

Enjoy your visit to Kentucky.
We've got a LOT of neat parks and Mammoth Cave NP is
just one of them.

johnthen · 06-30-2008, 11:16 AM

Thanks for the info KyDan. The wife can't live without A/C, well I can't either especially in August. We are thinking about staying at Nolin Lake SP. Ever been there?

**KyDan** · 06-30-2008, 03:19 PM

Only in my boat, we did not camp there.
Sorry I can't help with knowledge about hookups near Mammoth Cave.
It's a wonderful park.
Maybe you can come in Sept or Oct???

**KyDan** · 07-03-2008, 06:11 AM

Just a quick follow-up.
I imagine you will be happy at either place but we have found
Corps of Engineers camp grounds generally have a little more
space between sites than most Kentucky state park camp grounds.
BUT I admit we have not been to any camp grounds at Nolin lake.
We have camped at Rough River lake in the Corps camp ground and
it was great.
We've also camped at Land Between the Lakes in Western KY and
it was also a fine spaced out campground run by the Corps.

Here is a link to the Corps web site for Nolin lake.
http://www.lrl.usace.army.mil/NRL/
click on recreation and then the camping link on the right side of the
page.

I hope you enjoy your trip to Kentucky and Mammoth Cave.
We'd love to hear a follow up report when you get back home.

johnthen · 07-07-2008, 04:52 PM

We have already made reservations at Diamond Caverns Campground. Rates are reasonable and its centrally located to everything we want to do.

Thanks again for the info. We are looking forward to the trip and will let you know how it goes.

JJALMM · 07-08-2008, 07:39 PM

I am new to the forum, but have camped many times at Nolin Lake. Our favorite campground is Moutardier. You can check it out at recreation.gov. They have electric and water sites with some great views of the lake. Price is not bad either.

Hope this helps.

mark sl210 · 07-11-2008, 11:57 PM

we stayed at the closest KOA to the cave last year, it was old and the trees were to low, spaces unlevel, the only KOA I've ever stayed at I didn't like, (The wisconsin Dell's is a must visit, even the KOA has a water park there)

johnthen · 08-14-2008, 04:58 PM

Just got back from our trip last Thursday. Had a great time. Ended up staying at Jellystone. Nice park, great place for kids and centrally located. Checked out some of the other campgrounds and was not impressed except for Nolan Lake State Park, absolutely beautiful.
Visited 5 caves and did a lot of the tourist attractions. Beautiful country and we will definately be back.

You may also like: