Susan

I'm interested in doing some novice spelunking this summer. Mammoth Cave was my first choice, but I've read some negative things. Are they not, as the kids say, "all that?" Is the rest of the national park worth seeing?

If Mammoth Cave isn't a good choice, what is? Carlsbad? Any info would be great.

Fran

Carlsbad has paved walks for strollers, lights, and an underground cafeteria. Not very adventurous but interesting if you've never been underground. Howe's Cavern in New York, near Albany is also clean and safe but the tour includes a ride on an underground river.

ncgrrl

It depends which cave tour you take at Mommoth NP. One (I think the 'historical' tour) doesn't feature any stalagmites/stalatics (I'm sure my spelling is off on at least one of those) just BIG GIANT open areas underground. It is amazing that there could be so much open space underground.

Luray Caverns in VA is interesting and full of rock formations growing from the ground and ceiling (aha! a way to get around my bad spelling skills) and I have known people who went to W.VA. for spelunking, but I don't know where.

Bob Brown

Of the the three caves mentioned, Luray, Carlsbad, and Mammoth. There are two winners and a loser. Mammoth is the loser. I have been in it twice, and as far as I am concerned, it is just a big, ugly solution cavity. Carlsbad is a special treat. It is huge and full of fascinating big rooms and colorful formations.
Luray is a little gem. It can be a little tight, even claustrophobic.
But the formations are colorful and intricate. Being a commercial cave, there is a limited amount of gimmickry involved in "showing it off". Some of it is interesting, like the organ. Some enterprising soul found out that if you tap some of the travertine formations just right, you get true musical notes.
Someone rigged up a system of electronic hammers to tap the formations in the right sequence to play a tune. I thought it was neat. The lights are place to show off the colors to very good advantage.
Carlsbad is so huge and awesome that I came away shaking my head in disbelief.
What a place!!

Char

Mammoth Cave offers a number of tours, including a five-mile wild cave tour without man made paths and installed lights. You are outfitted for spelunking and have to crawl through some areas. Different tours go to different areas of the vast cave system. There is one very short cave tour where you basically do just see a huge cavern-it is designed to allow a large number of people to quickly have a "cave experience" and is certainly not representative of all the system has to offer. The Park is a beautiful place, a lot of wildlife. I would encourage you to give it a second look.

cg

A couple more options, depending on where you are coming from, are Jewel Cave and Wind Cave in the Black Hills. I think they both have spelunking tours (which you have to sign up early to get in on) as well as the regular guided tours. I haven't been to either in quite a few years, so you'd want to double check that. They are both lovely caves and the Black Hills are a very nice destination.

rob

carlsbad is great.....and there are several "primitive" tours you can take in the area. we took the least primitive....slaughter canyon. the trail head is about 20 minutes away from carlsbad visitor ctr....then you hike up the side of a hill to the cave entrance where 2 rangers await. there aren't any handrails, paved walkways, colored lights etc....just some red tape on the floor as a crude guide. the floors are wet and you just may fall and break your finger like i did. there are other tours that require helmets and knee pads so i can only imagine what those are like. all tours are coordinated by the park service at the visitors ctr and cost additional $$$$......well worth it though.

S

We were just in the Kentucky area to check out the caves. Our time was limited. The first stop was Mammoth Cave. They have 3 or 4 different types of tours of varying lengths. The only one that fit into our schedule was the Historical Tour. But ncgrrl is right. Mammoth Cave has been used for many years for various purposes: hiding, mining, etc. This tour goes into that and only shows a little of the natural formations. They do offer extensive other programs, including a special deal for kids. The kids are outfitted and get to go places and do things not offered to others. The description sounded neat. We decided NOT to do the Historical Tour and left.

We wound up touring the Diamond Cave. It was pretty neat.

In that area of Kentucky, there are at least a half dozen different cave options. There's a Crystal Cave and a Crystal Onyx Cave. The one that sounded more interesting is back behind a rinky dink trailer park and looks like someone from the trailer park runs it. It was closed. The other is by the interstate. We didn't go there. There's a Lost River Cave and a Hidden River Cave. Opt for the one in downtown Bowling Green. I think that's Hidden River Cave.

The web sites for these caves offered links to the National Cave Association
http://www.cavern.com/
and the National Speleological Society
http://www.caves.org
I sugggest checking them out. Especially if you're interested in doing something other than the standard tour with handrails and a tour guide.

Bill

Susan

I tend stay away from heavy tourist caves. My favorite spelunking is the mountain range in New Mexico east of I-25 from TorC to the dam on the Rio Grande. That range is a honeycomb of natural caves. It will test your condition, hiking and climbing ability. I have scaled a sheer 70 foot cliff to get to one. Played with rattlesnakes on the way to it. I admit this type of spelunking is not for the lighthearted but I enjoy it and go back every chance I get.