Mammoth Cave National Park: Visitor Center Double Loop (Blog Hike #632)

Trails: River Styx Spring, Echo River Spring, Sinkhole, Heritage, Dixon Cave, and Green River Bluffs Trails

Hike Location: Mammoth Cave National Park

Geographic Location: west of Cave City, KY (37.18710, -86.10111)

Length: 4.7 miles

Difficulty: 5/10 (Moderate)

Date Hiked: May 2017

Overview: A double loop featuring Mammoth Cave’s surface attractions.

Park Information: https://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm

Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=732574

Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: 

Directions to the trailhead: This hike starts at the Mammoth Cave National Park Visitor Center.  To get there from points north, take I-65 to SR 70 (exit 53).  Exit and turn right on SR 70.  Where SR 70 turns left, continue straight on SR 255 to enter Mammoth Cave National Park.  Drive a total of 5 miles from the interstate to Mammoth Cave Parkway and turn right on Mammoth Cave Pkwy.  Mammoth Cave Pkwy. deadends in 1.5 miles at the Visitor Center.  From the south, use I-65 exit 48, turn left, and drive first SR 255 and then SR 70 a total of 4.9 miles to Mammoth Cave Parkway.  Continue straight on Mammoth Cave Pkwy. to reach the Visitor Center in another 3.1 miles.

The hike: Boasting over 400 miles of surveyed passages, Mammoth Cave in central Kentucky is the longest known cave system in the world.  Although the cave was known to local people in prehistoric times, the first Europeans to discover the cave were the brothers John and Francis Houchin in 1797.  The cave was mined for saltpeter, a key ingredient in gunpowder, during the War of 1812, and by the mid 1800’s commercial tours of the cave had begun.

            In the early 1900’s, the cave’s popularity led to the Kentucky Cave Wars in which local landowners fiercely competed for the tourist dollars that cave tours brought to the area.  New cave entrances were blasted so that more landowners could offer cave tours.  In 1926, the United States Government authorized Mammoth Cave National Park to end the cave’s commercial exploitation and put the cave in public hands.  By 1941, over 45,000 acres had been acquired for the national park.  Most of the land was acquired by eminent domain, an act that still harbors bitter feelings among area residents today.  The cave and the land above it were named a World Heritage Site in 1981 and an International Biosphere Reserve in 1990.

            Relative to other caves, Mammoth Cave’s main features are its long passageways and massive rooms.  The cave has relatively few pretty cave formations, and the cave’s name comes from its sheer size.  Cave tours remain the area’s main attraction today, and they are sufficiently popular that the National Park Service recommends making advanced reservations.  I reserved a spot on the 3:15pm Domes and Dripstones Tour (note that the national park is located in the Central Time Zone), thus choosing to tour the park’s surface attractions by foot in the cool of the morning and go below ground where the temperature is a constant 54 degrees in the heat of the afternoon. 

Because most cave tours depart from the Visitor Center, the double loop described here is a logical route to hike while waiting for your cave tour.  This hike takes about 2.5 to 3 hours to complete in its entirety.  If you have less time than I did before your cave tour, you could hike only one of the two loops.  In such a case, the first loop is longer but offers more to see than the second.

Trailhead behind Visitor Center

            After exiting the back-left side of the Visitor Center, look for the signs for the Historic Entrance and trail system.  The hike starts by heading down a concrete path that passes under the pedestrian bridge connecting the Visitor Center and Mammoth Cave Hotel.  The hotel features a nice snack bar and ice cream parlor that I recommend patronizing after your hike.

Snake crossing the paved entrance trail

            The initial trail segment seems to attract a large number of snakes, as I saw several snakes slithering beside and across the trail here.  As you walk down the concrete path, you pass several interpretive signs that describe how the cave was formed.  The signs explain that Mammoth Cave gets its extreme length because the porous limestone that contains the cave is topped by an imporous sandstone cap.  With water unable to escape through the sandstone, it continued to erode through the limestone, thus creating longer and longer passageways.

            At 0.25 miles, you reach Mammoth Cave’s massive Historic Entrance.  This entrance is used by the national park’s Historic Cave Tour, and concrete steps with metal railings lead down into the cave.  This cave tour features the Rotunda room, one of the largest rooms in Mammoth Cave.  The cool air wafting out of the cave is refreshing on a warm summer day.

Mammoth Cave's Historic Entrance

            The Historic Entrance also marks a major trail intersection.  The second loop of our double loop starts to the right on the Dixon Cave Trail, so you will be back here in a little over 1 hour.  To start the first loop, continue downhill on the River Styx Spring Trail, which soon turns from asphalt to gravel.

            The wide two-track gravel trail treads downhill on a moderate to steep grade as it enters the Green River floodplain, which lies roughly 220 vertical feet below the Visitor Center.  At 0.7 miles, you reach another major trail intersection.  We will eventually turn sharply left here to begin the dirt Echo River Spring Trail, but first turn softly left to walk the short boardwalk out to River Styx Spring.  River Styx is one of Mammoth Cave’s major outlets for water, and its level depends on water tables and the level of the nearby Green River.  The river was high and cloudy on my visit.

River Styx Spring

            The next 0.8 miles use the Echo River Spring Trail as it heads for its namesake spring, another major outlet for cave water.  The trail passes up and over River Styx Spring before descending to reenter the Green River’s floodplain.  The floodplain is populated with young forest that features some red cedar trees and a dense green understory in season, which includes some poison ivy.  Just past 1 mile, you pass what appears to be an old spring house on the left, a remnant of the farms that once stood on this land.  The River Valley Trail exits left just past this structure; stay right to remain on the Echo River Spring Trail.

Old spring house?

            At 1.5 miles, you reach the Echo River and another trail intersection.  This hike turns left here to begin the Sinkhole Trail, but first take a short detour straight ahead to see Echo River Spring, which looks less rocky and imposing than River Styx Spring you saw earlier.  The trail continues past the spring to reach a parking lot near the Green River Ferry, a rare active ferry-crossing of a major river, but it does not loop back to the spring.

Echo River Spring

            Now on the narrower Sinkhole Trail, the trail uses several switchbacks to climb the slightly rocky hillside on a moderate grade.  The upland forest features tulip poplar, maple, and beech trees along with a few hickories.  I saw several wild turkeys traipsing through the forest on my visit.  1.75 miles into the hike, you need to turn left to remain on the Sinkhole Trail where another trail continues straight to head for the Mammoth Cave Campground.

White's Cave

            Very quickly you pass White’s Cave, a much smaller cave opening than the Historic Entrance you passed earlier.  The grade eases as you head around and then up a finger ridge.  At 2.1 miles, the River Valley Trail enters from the left just before you reach Mammoth Dome Sink.  An exceptionally large dry sinkhole, Mammoth Dome Sink was formed when an underground cave tunnel collapsed, so the sink is surface evidence of the cave system that lies beneath you.

            Next the Sinkhole Trail traces around the upper reaches of a ravine as the park’s cottage area comes into view uphill and to the right.  Just past 2.5 miles, you reach the ridgetop and an intersection with the ADA-accessible concrete Heritage Trail.  Turn left to begin a counterclockwise journey around the Heritage Trail’s loop, and quickly reach Sunset Point.  Perched more than 250 feet above the Green River, Sunset Point offers a nice south-facing vista over the Green River valley.

View south from Sunset Point

            Continuing around the Heritage Trail, more nearly flat walking brings you to the close of the Heritage Trail’s loop.  Before turning left to head back to the Visitor Center area and close this hike’s first loop, take the short spur trail to the right that leads to Old Guide’s Cemetery.  Though mainly a slave cemetery, the burial ground does contain the grave of legendary guide Stephen Bishop, who led cave tours here in the mid 1800’s.

Old Guide's Cemetery

            As you walk out the “stick” of the Heritage Trail’s lollipop loop, look for the signed start of the gravel Dixon Cave Trail that goes downhill to the left.  If your cave tour is less than 1 hour away, then the Visitor Center is less than 300 feet ahead.  Otherwise, turn left to head down the Dixon Cave Trail and begin the second of our two loops.

            At the bottom of some stone steps, you reach Mammoth Cave’s Historic Entrance for a second time.  Cross the paved River Styx Spring Trail you walked down earlier to remain on the dirt/gravel Dixon Cave Trail.  After passing around a finger ridge, you reach Dixon Cave at 3.4 miles.  Another large opening in the ground, Dixon Cave used to be connected to Mammoth Cave, but a tunnel collapse many years ago cut it off from the main cave system.  An observation platform allows you to gaze into the hole that is Dixon Cave to see if it gazes back.

Dixon Cave

            Continuing on the Dixon Cave Trail, ignore a side trail that exits right and heads for the park’s picnic area.  A little more descending brings you to the end of the Dixon Cave Trail at an intersection with the Green River Bluffs Trail, which goes straight and right.  Turn right to begin the Green River Bluffs Trail.

Hiking the Green River Bluffs Trail

            True to its name, the Green River Bluffs Trail heads northeast parallel to the Green River with the bluff rising to your right and falling to your left.  This trail is narrower than some of the park’s other trails, so you need to mind the steep unprotected dropoffs to your left.  At 3.8 miles, you reach this hike’s best Green River view.  Perched nearly 150 feet above the river, the overlook angles upstream at a point where few modern constructions intrude on the view.  Enjoy the broad view, the highlight of this second loop.

Green River bluff overlook

            Past the overlook, the trail curves right and climbs moderately to reach the top of the bluff.  Another right curve and some level walking bring you to the Green River Bluff Trail’s upper trailhead at the picnic area.  Turn left to walk the blacktop picnic area access road back to the Visitor Center parking lot and complete the surface portion of your tour of Mammoth Cave.