“So What Was Your Favorite State?” Part 5

Since we began traveling with our kids, we noticed that we had an affinity for exploring underground locations. Anytime we began planning for a trip to different regions around the country, if we found out that a cave, cavern or some sort of mine was nearby, we naturally had a desire to go explore there. So with that being said, we felt the need to include our favorite states for “Underground Adventures!” After exploring about a dozen different caves, caverns and a salt mines around the U.S.A., two places clearly stood out from the rest. One was Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, and the other was the very first national park that we ever visited… Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky!

Let’s talk about Carlsbad Caverns first… it’s located at the southernmost edge of the state of New Mexico very close to the Texas state line. We flew into El Paso, Texas and it was just a two and a half hour drive from there. Upon arrival, we suggest you checkout the bookstore in the Visitor Center and rent their “audio guide” for just $5 each. This will really enhance your experience. You can listen to this tour as you walk through the cavern, stop-by-stop, listening to information about the cavern that is both interesting and educational. It’s available in English, Spanish, German, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese (and there is even a children’s version available in English). Moving on to the cavern itself, if you’re physically able, we suggest walking and going in through the Natural Entrance. WARNING… this 1.25 mile trail is extremely steep and the switchbacks that drop down into the cavern descend 750 feet, which is the equivalent of walking up or down in a 75 story building. If you’re unable to do the hike down into the cave, there is an elevator that you can take down instead (use of the elevator is included in the price of the entry fee). Since the walk down into the cave is over a mile long (from its starting point), that alone can take an hour or so depending how much time you spend looking at things on the way down. You could easily spend half a day exploring the cavern so we’d recommend an early arrival time. While here, you’ll have the opportunity to see some really cool formations like Devil’s Spring, the Whale’s Mouth, and Iceberg Rock. The Big Room, the largest single cave chamber in the United States, is the highlight of the cavern.

Next up… Mammoth Cave National Park! It’s located in southern Kentucky about an hour and a half south of Louisville. This place was the spark that lit the flame for our love of national parks. Mammoth Cave is the world’s longest cave system with over 400 miles of explored and mapped passageways. To go into the cave, you must purchase a tour ticket. Reservations for tour tickets are strongly recommended because many of them can sell out weeks in advance. This actually happened to someone we know who was traveling in the area a couple years ago. They did not purchase tickets in advance and when they arrived, they weren’t able to go into the cave because all of the tours for that day were sold out. There are many different Cave Tours available to choose from, so be sure to go through their full list of tour descriptions to pick the one that is right for you! They have fully wheelchair accessible tours, short and long walking tours, lantern tours, and even crawling tours! We chose to go on the Historic Tour and it was amazing! We learned some fascinating facts about the cave’s history and saw formations such as the Bottomless Pit, Mammoth Dome, the Giant’s Coffin… we squeezed our way through Fat Man’s Misery, and had to crouch through Tall Man’s Misery as well. It was an amazing experience for our family and, like I mentioned at the beginning, this was our first national park visit… we left in such a state of awe that we immediately knew we wanted to begin visiting as many of our country’s national parks as possible. Since this first national park visit in 2013, we have visited 26 of our 63 parks and none of them have disappointed! Every national park is unique in its own way and will leave you with memories that last a lifetime!