Experience More: Mammoth Cave National Park

experience more:

I’ve lived in Kentucky my entire life. During that time, I’ve visited Mammoth Cave National Park many, many times. The cave tours are always spectacular. I have fond memories of visiting with my dad when I was a pre-teen, and with my own children when they were pre-teens. But what I didn’t know, is that the national park has an abundance of day hikes. In fact, more than 60 miles of hiking trails.

While we know basically every hike and trail in the Smokey Mountains National Park, we know very little about Mammoth Cave’s Trails. In the spirit of experiencing more, and living like a local, we spent a beautiful sunny spring day exploring some of the day hikes at Mammoth Cave NP.

The great outdoors

Hiking has been one of our favorite pastimes for a very long time. When our children were younger (my daughter was seven or eight, my son was four or five, we hiked with them the original Chimney Tops trail in the Smokey Mountains. The weather was beautiful at the trail head, and by the time we reached the summit, it was sleeting on us. It’s all part of the experience when you’re a lover of nature.

There is something about being outdoors. In most of these places there’s very little cell service, so you truly get a change to disconnect and quiet your mind. You breathe in air you haven’t breathed before, you listen to birds you haven’t heard, you see wildflowers and trees you otherwise may not have noticed.

It is one of the best, and most tranquil ways to spend a day.

Pack a picnic

We always, always, pack a picnic. Sometimes it’s homemade fried chicken, sometimes it’s lunchables. But there is always a cooler in the trunk, water bottles in the backpack, and a treat for the road. We find a cool spot to rest our feet [sometimes in an icy creek], and we just sit and listen to the sounds of the season.

We talk about life and dream beautiful daydreams; we reminisce and we make plans for the future. But mostly, we absorb one another… We reconnect, we communicate without distraction, and we remember why we love this journey called life that we get to be on together.

Become an explorer

We’ve determined to become explorers in whatever place we call home. Mammoth Cave National Park is a 21 mile drive from where we live. That leaves us with so much untapped potential to get out and explore a few places close to home…a hometown tourist, if you will.

The Maple Springs Trail and the Big Hollow Trail are easy day hikes. Trails are very well marked and maps are provided at the visitor’s center. We threw a few snacks and a couple bottles of water in our backpack, laced up our hiking boots, donned our sunglasses and off we went.

The dogwood trees were beginning to bloom, the leaves were a brilliant shade of green, the sky a tranquil perfect spring blue. Wide expanses of forest lay before us, gently sloping hillsides, and quiet streams ran beneath our feet. Old churches and graveyards dating back into the early 1800’s left a feeling of time forgotten, and a sovereign solitude that left us feeling peaceful as we ended the day.

Experience more…

You don’t have to drive long distances to experience more of life. While our day trip took us to Mammoth Cave National Park, yours may take you to the roadside farmer’s market, or to a nearby Shaker Village. Your day trip may not include getting out of your vehicle at all. Maybe it’s just a beautiful drive down a country lane you’ve never trekked before.

You can still pack a picnic lunch or grab a thermos full of coffee. The point is to live a lot of life in the time you’ve been given. Visit places you haven’t been in a while, walk paths that bring back fond memories, see things you’ve never seen before. Take the long way home, stop and watch the sunset, breathe some fresh air, remember why and how you started this journey in the first place. Experience more.