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Greetings!

My son, 16, and I visited Carlsbad Caverns this past summer (2011) and did 3 of the Ranger Guided tours there ...
We both enjoyed the trip and have decided to repeat that adventure this year, just to a new location ...
Our plan is some time June, July, or possibly August of 2012 ...

We are eyeing Mammoth Cave in KY and were looking at Ranger Guided (Crawl and Squeeze tours like we did in Carlsbad) and only find 2 at Mammoth (there were a number of them at Carlsbad). Being the LARGEST cave system, I'd expected more from Mammoth and figure I am either looking in the wrong spot or otherwise confused ...

Would be GREATLY appreciated if you could provide any info on such tours (we can handle pretty much anything and the more adventure the better).

MANY THANKS!
Brett and Alex

Welcome to the forum.

I'm thinking the obvious "Wild Cave Tour" would be the go for you. I finally got to visit Mammoth for the first time last year, and before I went I asked for advice from forum members on tour options and so forth. My wife was along so we were looking for something more than lighted trails but not quite the full crawl and squeeze experience. You might still get some useful info from this previous topic, and I'm sure some of our regular Mammoth-goers will be along soon with more advice.

If you're looking for even more adventure, you might consider hooking up with cavers in your area through local "grottos" (caving clubs). More info here.

Hope this helps!

The real wild cave "tours" at mammoth are via surveying with the CRF. Start caving locally, learn to survey, step up to the CRF and one day you can survey in Mammoth Cave. Shoot for the stars.

lots of crawling in the mammoth wild tours! We hit quite a few tight places. I heard not every tour is the same though. Some of the guides are apparently more adventurous than others.

There are many "show cave" tours in Mammoth (which are interesting and worthwhile) but only two wild cave tours--one easier than the other.
http://www.nps.gov/maca/planyourvisit/gocavetours.htm (info in the flash window) I suggest you make a reservation for the wild cave tour/s since you'll be there during the height of the tourist season.

If you and your son enjoyed your caving experience that much, you really should join your local NSS grotto and take up the hobby/sport! http://www.nssio.org/Find_Grotto.cfm And then as an NSS member you will have a link to thousands of other cavers and thus to caving around the country. Hey, come to the NSS Convention and a pre-convention camps in June for some outstanding caving in West Virginia. http://nss2012.com/

Cheryl

Brett,

Which part of Texas are you coming from. There is an ongoing project that cavers from San Antonio to Denton, and Brownwood to Houston are participating in at Longhorn Caverns SP. No, it's not Carlsbad or Mammoth, but there is an opportunity to explore, survey, and even dig out new passage. And there are guided tours if you really want that too. Feel free to contact me off the forum rdmilhollin at yahoo dot com dot com and I will help you get connected. I am in Fort Worth and the project is coordinated out of Dallas, but seriously cavers from all over the state get involved with this.

RD

probably splittin hairs, but mammoth cave is the most extenisve cave in the world, but not exactly "the largest."

So what is the largest cave?

You can also volunteer to help restore mammoth by signing up for their restoration camp weekends. Go to http://www.restoremammoth.com for more information. The weekend camps are held the first weekend in March, May & November. They also have a weeklong camp in August - which is the only one that has a fee for food. They provide you a free place to camp as well. You will get to see off the beaten trail stuff but it's not like a wild cave tour.

The Western Kentucky University Hoffman Karst Field Studies courses have already passed but you can look toward next year.

http://karstfieldstudies.com/courses.php

Dr. Sides' course might be of particular interest. I took Geology and Exploration back to back a few summers ago and estimate that I traveled through about 40 miles of Mammoth Cave in two weeks. I want to do it again.

Re: Visiting Mammoth from Texas

Postby UnderGroundEarth » Jun 22, 2012 9:55 am
You can also volunteer to help restore mammoth by signing up for their restoration camp weekends. Go to http://www.restoremammoth.com for more information. The weekend camps are held the first weekend in March, May & November. They also have a weeklong camp in August - which is the only one that has a fee for food. They provide you a free place to camp as well. You will get to see off the beaten trail stuff but it's not like a wild cave tour.

Thanks for the plug Kelly

brettroy wrote:Greetings!

My son, 16, and I visited Carlsbad Caverns this past summer (2011) and did 3 of the Ranger Guided tours there ...
We both enjoyed the trip and have decided to repeat that adventure this year, just to a new location ...
Our plan is some time June, July, or possibly August of 2012 ...

We are eyeing Mammoth Cave in KY and were looking at Ranger Guided (Crawl and Squeeze tours like we did in Carlsbad) and only find 2 at Mammoth (there were a number of them at Carlsbad). Being the LARGEST cave system, I'd expected more from Mammoth and figure I am either looking in the wrong spot or otherwise confused ...

Would be GREATLY appreciated if you could provide any info on such tours (we can handle pretty much anything and the more adventure the better).

MANY THANKS!
Brett and Alex

Actually the wild cave tour (6 miles in 6 hours) is the only crawling tour you and your son would qualify for. The trog tour is for kids under 16.

Crockett wrote:So what is the largest cave?

depends on what you're measuring. i don't think there there has ever really been an attempt to figure total volume of world caves. sarawak chamber (borneo) is probably still the largest single room; han son doong (vietnam) and deer cave (borneo) would almost certainly be among the largest caves in terms of volume. while the greater mammoth cave system has about 600 miles of surveyed passage currently, including fisher ridge and martin ridges (don't get mad f.r. and m.r. guys,) much of it is puny.

tagkycaver wrote:

Crockett wrote:So what is the largest cave?

While the greater mammoth cave system has about 600 miles of surveyed passage currently, including fisher ridge and martin ridges (don't get mad f.r. and m.r. guys,) much of it is puny.

Are you serious? I don't know much at all about Fisher Ridge and Martin Ridge, but Mammoth Cave itself probably has 50+ miles of borehole alone. Main Cave/Broadway, Gothic Ave, Echo River, Logsdon River, Turner Ave, Mather Ave, Salts Trunk, Proctor Trunk, Yahoo Avenue, Arlie Way and on and on and on and on. Huge, huge stuff.