We could not leave our Yogi Bear’s Mammoth Jellystone Camp trip without checking out Kentucky’s ONLY underground boat tour! I had caving on my bucket list and when I heard about this tour I knew it was a must visit, as my boys are huge fans of boats! Win- win for everyone!
Much to my surprise, Lost River Cave has MUCH more to offer than just the Underground Boat Tour. There truly is something for everyone and you could spend the entire day just exploring this Nature Preserve. You can see an entire list of the amazing activities Lost River Cave has to offer on their website and although I wanted to do it all, we picked a few and had a wonderful time!
We first went on the boat tour. It begins with a 20 minute walking tour through the valley as your guide shares the tale of the blue hole and disappearing Civil War soldiers. This particular “Blue Hole” holds the distinction in Ripley’s Believe It or Not as the “shortest deep river in the world.” The history that the guide offered was fascinating and hilarious. There are some great stories that you don’t want to miss so be sure to listen up when you are there!
At the end of the walking part of the tour, you arrive at a large mouth opening where you are entering the cave. The majority of the tour is stroller and wheelchair friendly, but there are a few steps to walk down upon entering the boat portion of the tour so you would have to be able to either carry someone or walk down yourself. Everyone gets their life jackets and then boards the boat! They have a professional photographer who takes your group picture which you can purchase for a small fee at the end of your trip!
Prepare to duck your head for just a moment before the passage opens into an enormous cathedral-like cavern. To say it was breath-taking is an understatement. It was BEAUTIFUL! The cave is huge so no need to worry if you are claustrophobic! Very kid and family friendly :)
As you can see, it is a beautiful tour and such a sight to see! What an experience this was for us!
They have so many trails to explore while you are there and we chose a shorter trail, as we had many little ones with us, and it had an awesome Butterfly House along the path. A jogging stroller could get the job done on the trails as they are pretty smooth, but you do go over a few rugged patches.
If you have kiddos, you must check out their Nature Explore Playscape. They have so many things that your kids can play with in nature, which makes the experience unique.
I would have loved to try out the FREE Junior Tour Guide Program and the Kayak Cave Tour, among other things, but there just wasn’t enough time in our trip. I hope we can visit again and check out parts of the preserve that we missed!
Overall, if you are in the Bowling Green, KY area, I highly recommend checking out Lost River Cave. So much family fun to be had and only about a 30 minute drive from Jellystone Mammoth, you will not be disappointed!
I was given complimentary tickets to the boat cave tour so I could share my experience with my readers. All opinions and thoughts are my own. Thanks for reading!
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This looks like a lot of fun, the river boat trip looks absolutely amazing especially with all those overhead caverns to tour and explore. It looks like your family had a wonderful time when on the vacation.
We did! It was amazing!Sent from my iPhone