Adventure Sold Here! Extreme or Regular?

Did you say EXTREME?

Did you say REGULAR?

Or did you click just to see what all we had to offer of each?

Either way, you’re our kind of person and you’re in the right place.

First, let’s talk EXTREME:

1) WILD CAVING

Our region is the second oldest tourism destination in the nation and it was built on some of the most extreme adventure the world has known.  (That sounded like a really big deal, right? Keep reading, it’s actually true. And at the bottom we reveal the #1, do you already know?)

We are home to Mammoth Cave National Park, which is the longest cave system in the world.  Because of physical exploration needed for all of that cave discovery, extreme adventure has just become a part of our DNA.

Mammoth Cave National Park, center of our cave world, normally offers a Wild Cave Tour where participants crawl, climb and sometimes, even walk, through passages that most people will never see. 

But don’t lose heart, remember what we mentioned earlier about the DNA stuff? Hidden River Cave offers a year round WILD CAVE TOUR that is a guaranteed good time.  Again with the crawling, climbing and sometimes walking thing – but this Hidden River Wild Cave has that RIVER part that is not to be ignored.  You probably won’t fall in, people don’t usually.. [release signing at the front desk] Calling ahead for reservations to wild cave is a must and we haven’t even mentioned yet that Hidden River Cave is home to the world’s longest underground suspension bridge!  Again with the extremes.

2) BACKPACKING

Also, with all of this underground adventure in the upside down means that there are almost 54,000 acres above ground to explore as well. All of this forrest means that there are some totally sweet backcountry camping to be had. So if carrying pounds upon pounds of your own gear, securing your own water supply and hiking in miles upon miles sounds extreme, we have some of that adventure to be had to!  There are a total of 11 backcountry campsites and we’ve written a blog just about that too. You can find it here.

3) ABOVE GROUND

AND now that we’ve covered the stuff below and on the ground, let’s rise above it.  We also offer rappelling, ziplining and a variety of other rope things and drop stuff.  Adventures of Mammoth Cave offers an aerial course, a drop tower and a series of ziplines for the Tarzan in you. Hidden River Cave offers a rappel down the mouth of their cave as well, call ahead 270.785.1466 for availability.

4) CANOEING or KAYAKING 

The Green River, Kentucky’s most bio-diverse river, runs through it all and while we do not boast rapids for extreme kayaking. Hart County’s Blueway on the Green offers 42.5 miles of paddling and all the info can be found here.  This means you could launch and not take out for days, or you could spend a few hours on the river and come off. The Green is full of blue holes and springs, almost too numerous to count, but the really BIG deal destination is 300 Springs.  This series of waterfalls is only accessible by boat. Can’t hike to it. Can’t drive to it. If it ends up on your social feed, you paddled your way in. Gathering info for this adventure starts with our local liveries who can help you with some of the non-public access needed, even if you are bringing your own paddles and boats.  There are also public access points where a livery is not needed at all, but they are great at helping you figure out which trip will be exactly right for you, whether you need them or not.  Our two liveries are Lynn Camp Launch and Big Buffalo Crossing Canoe and Kayak.

Now let’s talk about FUELING up:

The best part of all adventure is the fueling that must be done before and afterwards.  We’re going to dive straight into this by recommending our favorite ways to carb:

• Homemade Amish Doughnuts:
  • R & S Groceries and Amish Bakery 
  • Farmwald Dutch Bakery & Deli
• 5 Broke Girls

Now for a quick REGULAR adventure wrap up:

We are home to over 100 miles of hiking trails, loads of equestrian trails and regular cave tours as well.  And we are proud to say we have an amazing assortment of accessible adventures as well. We’ve written a blog all about that and placed it here.

One of our most beloved regular adventures involves animals and caving combined at Kentucky Down Under Adventure Zoo.  It is extremely interactive and is a constant fan favorite.  

And now finally, what was our nation’s FIRST tourist attraction?  

Niagara Falls.

Thanks for reading to the end, you’re the best.