Mammoth Cave National Park (Junior Ranger Program)

We visited another national park this past weekend. We camped at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. The younger girls got a Junior Ranger National Park Passport Book to put their stamps in. They also completed the Mammoth Cave Junior Ranger program and received their Junior Ranger Badges. The older boys absolutely loved exploring the cave and are already talking about going back with their cousins.

Junior Ranger Guide

We studied about Mammoth Cave before we went because they wanted to participate in the National Parks Junior Ranger program. We started by watching the Luna Explores Mammoth Cave National Park video on Junior Ranger Tales on Youtube. I found this list of all of the Junior Ranger Park Programs here. The girls filled out this National Park Research Paper and Mammoth Cave Brochure. We used The National Parks Scavenger Hunt by Stacy Tornio for help along with Mammoth Cave National Park website. We were not able to print out the Mammoth Cave Junior Ranger Book before hand, so we picked one up at the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center. We looked at all of the Cave Tours to choose which we would like to participate in and purchase our tickets online ahead of time.

We planed our visit to go on a tour each day and also the visit locations that were mentioned in the Indiana Dunes Junior Ranger activity guide. We were not able to print out the Junior Ranger packet ahead of time, so we picked one up at the gift shop in the visitor center on Friday evening when we got there. We then took a quick glance at the book while we were eating dinner that evening and figured out that most of it could be filled out in the visitor center museum and a small amount along an easy hike. In a quick walk through the museum we found a 42 inch hole that you can try to fit though…

We arrived Friday afternoon and went to Mammoth Cave Campground to set up our campsite for the weekend (read more about this below). This campground is within walking distance of the Camp Store and the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center. We then went to the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center for our 4:30 Mammoth Passage Cave Tour which you can read more about be below. After our tour we picked up our Junior Ranger Book.

On Saturday morning we took the boys to the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center for their 6 hour Wild Cave Tour, you can read more about their experience below. The girls and I worked on our Junior Ranger books in the Visitor Center Museum while the boys were on their tour. We took our time and went very slowly through the museum sitting on several benches to work in our Junior Ranger books along the way (since we had 6 hours to kill). We filled out page 1 easily since we already had a cave tour the evening before. Page 2 we did on the picture that we took as a family by the National Park sign. For page 3, we just talked about each question and then I wrote down what the girls said. There was an exhibit in the museum to help us fill out page 4 about the animal adaptations, and the girls had so much fun creating their own cave creature on page 5.

Page 6 is a scavenger hunt of your senses. We sat at a bench and remembered our time at the campsite for most of this page. Page 7 was pretty awesome, about artifacts that were found in the cave. It was relatable to the girls because we saw the actually artifacts on our Mammoth Passage Cave Tour the evening before. There was also a display in the museum that shows all of the artifacts as well.

We watched a video in the museum to help us with page 8, and they drew their own cave system. Page 9 was a little more challenging, we found some of the answers at the beginning of the museum, but didn’t actually find all of the answers for this page. We skipped pages 10-12 since the girls seemed a little to young for those pages. But page 13-14 was fun. They got to do some rubbings of fossils that they found near the beginning of the museum.

Finally we filled out their names on the last page and went to see the park ranger to get our Junior Ranger Badges. The Park Ranger helped the girls say the Junior Ranger Oath, and then she gave them each a badge. Then they got to stamp their Junior Ranger National Park Passport Books.

Sunday morning we went back to the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center for our Frozen Niagara Tour at 8:45. You can read more about this tour below as well.

Storm also got a new Junior Ranger hat at the Visitor Center Gift Shop.

Mammoth Cave Campground

When we go to Mammoth Cave Campground we set up our campsite which is always super fun for the littles. We also used our Asinking Car Rooftop Bag to pack things in for our drive this time, so we had a lot more room in the van while driving. We set up our CAMPROS tent and the girls liked using our LED lanterns once it got dark. They don’t want you to bring outside firewood to the campground, so we bought some at the Camp Store. We made dinner and breakfast over the campfire but made turkey and cheese sandwiches for lunch. We roasted hotdogs and smore’s the first night, the girls love this too. We saw a lot of wild turkeys in our campsite as well.

Mammoth Passage Tour

On Friday evening we had our Mammoth Passage Cave Tour. It is just an hour and 15 minutes, short for the girls. We went into the visitor center to pick up our tickets and then met the tour guide at the pavilion outside. After the park ranger talked to us about the tour and what to expect we headed down the path. It immediately got chilly once we were standing outside of the cave entrance, bring your hoodies. The tour starts with 60 steps down into the cave. This tour had a slightly low ceiling at the beginning, but no other tight spaces at all. We stop at a few large areas to hear the park ranger talk and take pictures. At one area, we can see artifacts that have been found in the cave. This kids thought this tour was great for our first one.

Wild Cave Tour

The 6 hour Wild Cave Tour was the highlight of the boys whole trip. They loved it and talked about going back with their cousins. They picked up their tickets in the visitor center and then met at the flag pole out front 15 minutes before their tour began. There are lots of specific qualifications for this tour, so be sure to read everything before you purchase the tickets. You must be over 16 year old, but have an adult over 18 years old with you. No part of your body can be larger than 42 inches around or you won’t fit though some of the crawling spaces. You also need special hiking boots and they will give you coveralls and a helmet with light. You are told to bring a snack or sandwich along with a bottle of water. They said that this tour is different every time, the tour guides decide on where to take you depending on how the group is doing. At one point they had a 20 minute low crawling area, they also had several tight spaces to squeeze though. I am so glad that the boys got to experience this and that they enjoyed it so much.

Frozen Niagara Tour

The Frozen Niagara Tour was a little more cramped. We took a bus to the entrance and then went down 20 steps into the cave. As we walked though this cave we had to bend down several places and squeeze though a tightish area as well. This didn’t affect the girls at all. We also got to see so many cave crickets. The frozen Niagara area was so awesome though, and the girls enjoyed learning about stalactites and stalagmites. This is the only tour at Mammoth Caves where you can see these formations.