Mammoth Cave River Styx Tour and a stay at the Mammoth Cave Lodge!

 We had been itching to get back to Mammoth Cave for some time!  We really wanted to visit in the winter too, so a few days ago we went down!

I remember one day in high school…..  lets say in the early 90s….  it snowed a lot, and me and my buddy Brent decided to drive to the National Park for the day.  We truly felt like we had the entire park to ourselves.  I’m sure there were some other people there, but I don’t remember them.  It was a great day to visit.

Well, when my wife and I went on a nice January weekend, we had a bit of a similar experience!

Also, we had never stayed at the Mammoth Cave Lodge so we thought this might be a nice weekend for that!

We drove down very early on a recent Saturday.  It had been windy and rainy.  There was debris in the road as we drove towards the MCNP.  Even within the boundaries of the park we had to watch out for small twigs and branches.

It is always a great drive though.  AND, I never fail to see plenty of deer around the visitor center.

We arrive right as the visitor center opened, and we went in to pick up our tickets for our 9am River Styx tour.  The tour had sold out, as there are less tours offered in general on winter days.

We met our tour guide, Teddy, under an awning right behind the visitor center.  Teddy was a very pleasant young man and he told us about the basics of the tour and he then led us down the steep hill to the historic cave entrance.  Our tickets were torn and we went down into the cave.

The River Styx tour is the normal historic tour, but with a brief side trip to see the river that runs through the cave.  Teddy explained that they used to do boat tours at Mammoth Cave on the River Styx.  That ended in the 90s though when they realized that the boat tours were affecting the animals in the river.  The boats were removed and given to Lost River Cave, where you can still take a boat ride through a cave!

It was fun looking down on the river on this little trip.  They actually do not have lighting in this area, so guests are able to carry supplied lanterns with them.  It’s a pretty cool experience.

You cover a lot of ground on this tour.  We walked by the Giants Coffin, and through Fat Man’s Misery.  I hadn’t been through this part of the cave in a while.  Its very twisty and turny, and I noticed a lot of tall people having trouble squeezing through here too!

Near the end of our 2 plus hour adventure, it felt almost like it was raining in the cave at one area.  One of the guides told us that it had been raining hard during our tour, causing the water to come down.  Later, after leaving the cave, we would see water flowing forcefully down various hills, creating a very cool waterfall effect towards the cave.

There is a long stairway tower that you must go up at the end of this path to leave the cave.  It is a bit intimidating when you see it, but there are several places along the way to stop for a break, if needed, as you walk up.  Our guide Teddy joked that, if the guides need a break, they will stop and point to a rock, any rock, and talk about it for some time as they catch their breath.

After our great River Styx tour, we went to the Mammoth Cave Lodge and had lunch in their Green River Grill.  I’ve always enjoyed this restaurant.

My wife had a very nice salad, and I had a catfish po boy with some great chicken soup.  It was a very nice meal and we enjoyed it and the setting of the restaurant very much.  We had a great waitress too who kept our water cups full!

We stopped by the gift shop at the lodge for some postcards.

  

There was a very pleasant young volunteer there named Quintin.  We ended up talking to him for some time.  I asked Quintin if there were any new tours coming up at the cave, as I feel like I have taken then all several times.  Quintin is a big fan of the cave himself, and he excitedly told us that the park is working on REOPENING a couple of old show caves on the property!

An old theme park and cave called Wondering Woods is being cleaned and prepared to reopen!  Also, one of Floyd Collins’ caves might be open for tours too!  I’ve googled around after hearing this, and these rumors look to be true!  I was so glad that I got to talk to Quintin about this and to hear about the old caves opening again.  I am really looking forward to having the opportunity to visit these caves when they reopen!

We ended up checking in to our room at the Mammoth Cave Lodge.  The main lodge building houses a couple of gift shops and restaurants.  You check in there, and then drive to your room. 

This was a fun experience, but I am not sure if I would stay at the lodge again.  

There were some issues (one of the beds had a stain on it, a window was cracked, and we couldn’t get any TV channels).  These were all very minor issues.  The window wasn’t that noticeable, the other bed was perfectly clean and we wouldn’t have watched much TV anyway…..  but, our room was far from perfect. 

Also, for the price, we could have stayed at the very comfy Grand Victorian Inn we had stayed at before nearby.

There was a great view from our lodge room though.  Looking out, there was just woods.  We left the blinds open all night and that was great.

We did drive away from the park in the evening and had dinner at Cracker Barrel.  I love the nearby Cracker Barrel, and we had a great waitress named Jessica, and great food too.  We would actually go back again in the morning before leaving town, and had another great waitress named Tonya.  More great food (I LOVE Cracker Barrel breakfasts).

Back to our night at the Lodge....  as we drove back from dinner to a VERY empty parking lot in the dark, we saw a TON of deer!  They were everyone!  Some were very sweetly laying down right next to the main lodge building.

We did see, at a bit of a distance, some deer crossing the road (again, it was at night and dark) but the deer were closely followed by another critter hot on their trail!

There was one other car at one of the lodge buildings, but that was it.  It gave us some comfort knowing that we weren't totally alone.

I joked with my wife that there is the hockey mask wearing ranger who patrols the park at night.  She didn't think this was as funny as I did.

As we left the park early Sunday morning, we noticed that a tree had fallen in the road.  It must have happened after we drove through the night before, after getting back from Cracker Barrel.  Park staff had obviously sawed through it though, and cleaned up most of it.