• 3 min read

7 Outdoor Adventures for KIDS (and their adults)

Kentucky Down Under by Tiffany LaCombe.

1. Mammoth Cave National Park

  • Below ground it’s the longest cave system in the world with daily tours, above ground there’s 53,000 acres of trails for hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking. Tickets are available online and often sell out, so grab some up before you head this way.
  • PRO TIP: Mammoth Cave is a wildflower bonanza and you can read more about those here
@clintfroedge at Mammoth Cave National Park’s Sloan’s Pond Trail

2. Kentucky Down Under

  • Above ground it’s kangaroo petting, emu feeding, lorikeet landing fun: below ground it’s Mammoth Onyx Cave, one of the original show caves that drew people to this area over 100 years ago.  
  • PRO TIP: This year we have many baby joeys that have emerged from their mom’s pouches!
Kentucky Down Under with kangaroos by Julia Keisling.

3. Hidden River Cave

  • Below ground you’ll find the longest swinging bridge in the world and the only wild cave tour in the area for 2020: above ground there’s rappelling down the mouth of the cave and ziplining over the cave as well.  
Hidden River Cave’s longest underground swinging bridge in the world.

4. Adventures of Mammoth Cave

  • Adventures offers course of 5 zip lines and a secondary course that includes 4 zip lines. Each course carries its own weight restrictions.  You will weave in and out of deep green canopies and over lush open meadows, traveling 600 to 950 feet at speeds of 20 to 40 MPH. You can also experience the excitement of walking in the tree tops with the 2 Sky Bridges or the exhilaration of being cast up into the air on a Giant Super Swing. Are you ready for The Last Step? Take a Leap of Faith when you step off the 70 foot Mammoth Cave Drop Tower, the ONLY one of its kind in Kentucky.
Kids course at Adventures of Mammoth Cave.
Dennison’s Roadside Market in the fall.

5. Dennisons Roadside Market

  • Dennisons’ opens April 1st for the season and offers a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, plus locally sourced artisan items.  They offer country ham, bacon, jams, jellies and a wide variety of canned goods for putting together some delicious menus to take home or enjoy while you’re traveling.  Starting in September they will be spilling over with pumpkins, apples and all the best of fall. In October they offer wagon rides to the pumpkin patch, caramel apples and more.  It’s a true farm market.  
Farmwald’s Dutch Deli and Bakery’s doughnuts

6. Food!

  • Amish Doughnuts – two bakery locations, so you should try them both while you’re here, right?
  • Gravy – we put that stuff on almost everything!
  • Fried chicken / fried catfish
  • Pizza & pasta
  • Mexican plates of wonder
  • Fried bologna
  • Cheeseburgers and fries
  • PRO TIP: think of this as refueling for your next outdoor adventure
Conestoga wagons at the Horse Cave KOA

7. Stay in the country

  • We have a wide variety of accommodations: Conestoga wagons, cabins, camping and several types of hotels.

PRO TIP: we even offer accommodations for your pets while you’re on your adventures, but many of the things we’ve listed are also pet-friendly activities. Find more information about boarding your pets on our visitors info page!