You have to look beneath the surface to fully appreciate Mammoth Cave National Park
Eve ChenMammoth Cave has been captivating imaginations for thousands of years.
“Obviously, the geology is amazing. It's what (first) brought people here and what brings people back to study this region,” said Mammoth Cave National Park spokesperson Molly Schroer. “I mean, what drives a person to go into a dark, mysterious hole in the ground? It’s curiosity.”
Hundreds of thousands of visitors are drawn to the Kentucky marvel each year.
“When they get down there and they feel that darkness and they feel that sense of wonder, they really do connect to the cave and see what a special location it is,” Schroer said.
Here’s what travelers should know about Mammoth Cave, the latest national park in USA TODAY’s yearlong series.
What is special about Mammoth Cave?
Mammoth Cave is the longest-known cave system in the world.
“There are caves that have larger rooms, but we are the longest,” Schroer said. “We are currently mapped at 426 miles. We are still finding more cave. The explorers tell us there’s no end in sight at this point.”
The cave is a natural wonder but also significant to human history.
“Mammoth Cave is one of the few places in the world where we can trace the transition from hunter-gatherers to an agricultural community,” Schroer said. “Prehistoric people from the Late Archaic and Early Woodland period inhabited the forests and plains of Kentucky and focused on the river valleys and their abundant resources. Researchers have traced the rise of farming in these groups by looking at pre-historic poo found inside the caves.”
What is the origin of the Mammoth Cave?
Mammoth Cave is located about 30 minutes outside Bowling Green, Kentucky by car. According to the park’s website, prehistoric seas deposited limestone in the area around 325 million years ago.
Then, about 10 million years ago, Schroer said, “Water started trickling down through the cracks that are within that limestone and began to slowly eat away at the passageways to form Mammoth Cave.”
It’s still going.
“There's currently about what we call five levels of cave passageways, and that lowest level, the fifth level at the bottom, still has water in it actively forming new caves,” she added.
Did Native Americans use Mammoth Cave?
According to the park, from about 5,000 to 2,000 B.C.E., Native Americans explored the cave and mined for minerals like gypsum.
“We know that they explored many, many miles of the cave, which is pretty amazing,” Schroer said.
They also appear to have used the caves for some burials. The park has worked with tribal partners to ensure “the deceased have a safe and secure resting place in locations away from cave tours.”
These seven tribes have historic ties to Mammoth Cave:
- Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
- Cherokee Nation
- United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians
- Shawnee Tribe
- Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma
- Absentee Shawnee Tribe
- Chickasaw Nation
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Can you go in Mammoth Cave for free?
There’s no entrance fee for Mammoth Cave National Park, but visitors do have to pay to enter the caves, which are only accessible with cave tours.
“It's for resource protection, one, because we don't want people writing on the walls. That has happened,” Schroer said. “There's also many different directions you can take when you get down there, so it is for the protection of people too, that they don't wander off somewhere that they shouldn't be and get lost.”
Most tours are guided. A self-guided tour is sometimes available in the summer, but it still requires a ticket.
Tours prices currently start $8 for most visitors age 13 and up. However prices are set to increase on March 1. Visitors are encouraged to book tours in advance as they can sell out.
How long does it take to walk through Mammoth Cave?
Each guided tour has a different duration, but visitors can take their time on the self-guided version, which is limited to certain areas of the cave.
Schroer said some visitors pop in and out while others can spend an hour and a half reading signage, talking to rangers stationed along the way and soaking it all in.
Is Mammoth Cave wheelchair friendly?
Most of Mammoth Cave is not wheelchair accessible, but there is one accessible cave tour.
“We take people down in an elevator,” Schroer said. “They're able to see a portion of the cave that is level and has been hardened, and then we can take them back out of that via the elevator.”
What can we do at Mammoth Cave?
“The cave is just one part of the park,” Schroer said. “We say half of the park is underground. Obviously, the other part is in the sunny side of the world. We have canoeing and kayaking on some great rivers … We also have over 80 miles of hiking, biking and horseback riding trails, so it's good to see the above surface.”
Park rangers lead several free walks and talks above ground, including some dark sky programs, which can be found on the park’s website.
“It's more than just a one-day visit,” Schroer said. “If you want to stay for a couple of days, you can find plenty of recreational opportunities.”
How deep is the Bottomless Pit in Mammoth Cave?
“The Bottomless Pit is only about 105 feet deep, but back in the early 1800s, when (settlers) were first exploring and touring the cave, the tourists that would get to the area known as the Bottomless Pit would look down and their little lanterns would not show the bottom, so it looked like it went on forever,” Schroer said.
The first known formal tour of Mammoth Cave was given in 1816, long before it became part of the National Park Service in 1941. One of Mammoth Cave’s most famous early guides was an enslaved man named Stephen Bishop. In 1838, he and a cave visitor became the first people known to cross the Bottomless Pit, according to the park.
'I'm here to give a voice':Ranger's great-great-grandfather was an enslaved guide at Mammoth Cave
What creature was found in Mammoth Cave?
A wealth of ancient shark fossils have been uncovered in Mammoth Cave, including two newly discovered species announced earlier this week.
Schroer said more than 70 species of sharks and their relatives have been identified so far, including several new to science. “They have even found preservation of three-dimensional skeletal cartilage that has helped scientists understand the anatomy and relationships of ancient sharks,” she said.
Many remarkable creatures still live inside Mammoth Cave.
“We have eyeless fish,” Schroer said. “They're down in the lowest section of the cave. They've evolved (so) that they have no eyesight because they don't need it in a world of total darkness. They're pale. They're white. You can kind of see their organs on the inside. They're very interesting.”
There are also endangered Kentucky Cave Shrimp, which are found nowhere else in the world. They, too, are eyeless and clear.
“There are lots of cave crickets,” Schroer said. “They are a keystone species of the cave because they go out to the surface feed, then come back in to lay eggs. So they're bringing food sources into the cave to reach those creatures that never leave the cave, so they're very important for the habitat and ecosystem of the cave.”