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Mammoth Cave National Park To Offer Free Cave Tour on August 25

Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on August 17, 2010 - 1:21am

Free tours down a three-quarter-mile-long passage in Mammoth Cave National Park will be offered on August 25 in honor of the National Park Service's birthday. Part of the walk passes Pulpit Rock. NPS photos.

In honor of the 94th birthday of the National Park Service, officials at Mammoth Cave National Park are offering free tours of the Mammoth Passage cave on August 25.

“Congress signed the Organic Act into law on August 25, 1916, creating the National Park Service,” said Mammoth Cave Superintendent Patrick Reed. “Some words from that piece of
legislation echo in my mind on a daily basis. It is key to almost everything we do in managing the parks.”

The Organic Act states, in part: “…the Service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments and reservations…to conserve the scenery and the natural and the historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

While tours of this particular passageway are free, you still must pick up a ticket at the visitor center ticket office prior to tour times. On August 25, the free guided Mammoth Passage tours will depart from the visitor center at 8:45, 9:30, 10:15, 11:45, 12:30, 2:00, 3:00, and 4:45; the tour is limited to 40 people.

The ¾-mile, 1¼ hours Mammoth Passage tour requires a walk down and up the hill below the visitor center, as well as 68 steps at the Historic Entrance.

Camping fees and fees for other tours of Mammoth Cave will not be waived this day.

Comments

Submitted by Michael (not verified) on August 18, 2010 - 12:03pm.

I was at Mammoth Cave last weekend, and I took the New Entrance Tour. It was awesome! I highly recommend going to Mammoth Cave this weekend if you can make it to the free tour!!!

Submitted by Matt W (not verified) on August 18, 2010 - 1:34pm.

I was able to do the Historic Tour and the New Entrance Tour last week and highly recommend both. The cool breeze blowing out of the main entrance was quite refreshing in the hot weather we are having. These are also good tours for kids as they are not too long and not physically demanding.