Kentucky Wild Cave Tours for 12 years old

[Murphy]

Hey all,
I am new to caving, just starting out. Live in the Charlotte, NC area
My son and I have had a couple walking tours and a six hour wild cave tour in WV, Lost World Caverns.
We would like to do a wild cave tour in TN. We were thinking about the Mammoth Wild Cave Tour and we are seeing that Mammoth and others that I have found require a minimum of 16 years of age for the wild cave tour.

Does anyone know of the wild cave tours that don't have the age stipulation?

The idea was to do a wild cave tour, hunt some geodes, looking for info on that as well.

Any help would be appreciated

[caver.adam]

I don't know of any in TN or southern KY. In Indiana I think Marengo Cave has some tours for ages 10+.

[Andy]

The Winter Adventure Weekend at Carter Caves State Park offers wild cave tours for a 12 year old. But this is just one weekend a year which is the last weekend in January. I would check out caving events like Karst-O-Rama and Speleofest. These are weekend events too.

[caver.adam]

Ah! Speleofest is located in Upton, Ky (about an hour north of Cave City) and all ages are welcome. It's hosted on Memorial Day weekend at the end of May. KoR is in Cincinnati sometime in the summer.

[Bill]

Have you thought about contacting/joining a local grotto? I don't know of any in Charlotte, but I have a fair number of friends with whom I cave who are in Charlotte/Mooresville, NC area. The Triangle Troglodytes (aka the Tri-Trogs) are in the Raleigh-Durham/Triangle area of NC, Flittermaus Grotto is in Asheville, NC, and Walker Mountain Grotto in in Marion, VA. Each of these grottoes' meeting locations is about two hours from you, but all three are fairly active.
HTH

[bennettbike]

Yup, you and your son are ready for a grotto. You guys will love it and this will be your sport as he ages.

My dad and I started mtn biking when I was 12 at the US Olympic trail in Conyers in late 1996, now my sister, mom, everyone rides today. All the time.

Join a grotto with your son, have fun and be safe.