Mammoth Cave National Park protects over 52,000 acres of scenic forests, streams, sinkholes, ponds, meadows, and more. This makes the park a wonderful outdoor classroom. Choose among the options below to help your students learn of the intimate relationship between the cave and the land above it.

Ranger Programs | Exhibits | Films | Boat Rides | Trails

Ranger Programs
During the summer, the park offers ranger-led walks and campfire programs free of charge. However, rangers are not usually available for surface tours at other times of the year.

Museum Exhibits
Mammoth Cave has limited exhibits at this time. The park is in the process of remodeling the visitor center area. The new complex will include an exhibit area.

Films
There are two regularly scheduled slide shows in the park's Visitor Center auditorium. The two films alternate, with one starting roughly every 20 minutes. "Voices of the Cave" explores the human history of Mammoth Cave, while "Water and Stone" explains the slow creation of the caves.

Miss Green River Boat Rides
The Miss Green River boat concession offers a one-hour scenic 7-mile boat ride through the park April through October. The boat seats 122 passengers. Call (270) 758-2243 for schedules, prices, and details.

Trails and places to see
Mammoth Cave National Park has nearly 80 miles of trails which wander through forests, along rivers, past sinkholes, and through historic areas. Pick the one that best fits your needs. Please note that all plants, animals, artifacts, and geologic features in a national park are protected. Take nothing but memories and notes, leave nothing behind, and leave things as you find them. Sloan's Crossing Pond Trail and the Heritage Trail are both accessible to those with mobility impairments.

Water Studies: Sloan's Crossing Pond, Echo River Spring
Cave and Karst Studies: Echo River Spring, Cedar Sink, Mammoth Dome Sink, Dixon Cave, River Styx Spring, Turnhole Bend
Forest Studies: Turnhole Bend, Green River Bluffs, North Side Trails
Historic Studies: Sand Cave, Heritage Trail and Guide Cemetery, Churches and Cemeteries
Maps: Mammoth Cave National Park Map (pdf 276k), Visitor Center area (pdf 72k)

Sloan's Crossing Pond
Distance: .4 mile loop
Location: located on Highway 70 just south of turn to visitor center.

This boardwalk trail circles a historic stock pond/beaver pond which is slowly filling in, beginning the process of forest succession. Ponds like this are rare in a karst region, and the pond supports variety of life found few others places in the park. Invite your students to bring hand-lenses to look more closely at the bugs, plants, frogs, and other life of the pond. There are also a few picnic tables here, but no rest rooms. Please return plants and animals to the locations an conditions in which you found them.

Echo River Spring
Distance: .8 miles round trip
Location: Begins at Green River Ferry parking lot.

This is where one of the many rivers that flows through Mammoth Cave emerges. Water bubbles up out of the spring, or during spring floods water backs up from the Green River and enters the cave here. Combine a trip to this spring with the Historic Tour or Mammoth Passage Tour to give your students a better understanding of the connection between the cave and the surface. Have your students test water temperature, velocity, pH, and oxygen here and at Sloan's Crossing Pond or a creek near your school and compare.

Cedar Sink
Distance: 1.6 miles round trip
Location: Located on Cedar Sink Rd/Highway 422, about .6 miles from highway 70, 3.2 miles north of the intersection with the visitor center road

The Cedar Sink Trail leads down hill through second growth forest, past several sinking streams and abundant wildflowers in the spring. At the end of the trail you can view Cedar Sink from a platform or descend down into this enormous sinkhole, where, in times of adequate rainfall, water emerges as a spring from one cave system and a few hundred feet later sinks into another cave. The large sinkhole shows clearly the layers of sandstone and limestone and provides an excellent opportunity to discuss karst geology.

Mammoth Dome Sink
Distance: about .5 miles to from Visitor Center to Mammoth Dome Sink, 4 miles to the Green River and back
Location: Begins from Heritage Trail, across the bridge from the visitor center

On the Historic Tour of Mammoth Cave, visitors pass through Mammoth Dome, a 192-foot high shaft with water constantly dripping down into it. About 30 feet above that dome is Mammoth Dome Sink. Bring students here before or after the Historic Tour to connect the sinkhole and the disappearing streams near it to what students see in the cave. Continue on down the trail to Echo River Spring to see all the features of a karst landscape (sinkholes, disappearing streams, caves, and springs). Note: some school groups hike from the visitor center to Echo River Spring and have their buses pick them up there (at the Green River Ferry parking lot) -- total 2 miles hike, mostly downhill.

Dixon Cave
Distance: about .5 miles one way from Visitor Center
Location: Begin at Visitor Center or Historic Entrance

Dixon Cave is speculated to have once been a part of Mammoth Cave, separated by the cave-in that created the Historic Entrance. Today it is closed to the public, but is an important hibernacula for bats and a good example of a large sinkhole. Combine this trail with Green River Bluffs or River Styx to make a loop.

River Styx Spring
Distance: 1.2 miles from Historic Entrance to Green River and back
Location: Begin from Historic Entrance or Visitor Center

River Styx Spring is where one of the many rivers inside Mammoth Cave emerges for a short time as a surface stream before joining the Green River. Continue to the north/right to make a loop with Green River Bluffs or Dixon Cave trails.

Turnhole Bend
Distance: 1 mile to Green River overlook and back
Location: Trailhead on Highway 70, .4 miles west of intersection with Cedar Sink Road/Highway 422 (3.6 miles north of visitor center road).

This gentle trail leads past large sinkholes to an overlook of a bend in the Green River where Turnhole Spring emerges; the spring is often under water.

Green River Bluffs
Distance: About 2 miles from picnic area past Dixon Cave to Visitor Center.
Location: Begin in Visitor Center picnic area, across the road from the rest rooms

In the early spring and late fall this trail provides long views of the Green River Valley. Combine with River Styx and/or Dixon Cave to talk about forests in different areas -- with and without water sources, in flat and steep areas, etc.

North Side Trails
The park has over 70 miles of trails north of the Green River. These trails pass sinkholes, sinking streams, springs, waterfalls, historic churches, homesteads, and cemeteries through forests, along bluffs, and across savannas. These trails are ideal to explore if you are staying at Maple Springs Group Campground. Many of the trail intersections are confusing, so please bring a hiking map. Please note that buses are not permitted on the Green River Ferry.

Sand Cave
Distance: .2 miles, round trip
Location: located at Sand Cave trailhead/park entrance sign on Highway 225/east entrance road.

Sand Cave gained fame in 1925 when cave explorer Floyd Collins became trapped and later died despite a massive rescue effort. The tragedy also drew international attention to the Mammoth Cave region and the effort to establish a National Park here, which was successful in 1926. This very short trail is a good place for students to find a place to sit and reflect, perhaps write poetry or observations about their trip.

Heritage Trail and Guide Cemetery
Distance: .3 mile loop plus .1 mile spur to Guide Cemetery.
Location: Located next to the hotel; cross the bridge from the Visitor Center and turn right.

This paved trail offers views of the Green River Valley and the Historic Entrance. There are several interpretive signs along the way. In the center of the loop is the Old Guide's Cemetery, where Stephen Bishop, the famous African-American slave who guided at Mammoth Cave, is buried.

Churches and Cemeteries
Found throughout the park; see a map for locations. Before Mammoth Cave became a National Park in 1941, the 52,000 acres that now comprise the park was the home to numerous farm families and small villages. Three churches and over 90 cemeteries remain in the park. The churches are not open to the public, but the cemeteries provide an interesting glimpse into the past. Ask your students to find the graves of young children, or multiple generations; have them observe the symbols carved onto gravestones. Ask them to sketch what they see (do not do rubbings of the headstones as this can damage them). Please be aware that the churches and cemeteries are still in use by some, and are sacred places; be respectful.

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last updated 4/27/01 maca_park_information@nps.gov