Mammoth Cave National Park was established in 1941 to protect the unparalleled underground labyrinth of caves, the rolling hilly country above, and the Green River valley. Since then, ongoing study and exploration have shown the park to be far more complex than ever imagined, hosting a broad diversity of species living in specialized and interconnected ecosystems.
The park's challenge is to balance these remarkable and sometimes fragile living networks with the public's enjoyment of them. The key to that balance is knowledge, and the park's new environmental monitoring programs will provide that understanding.
Over a dozen campsites dot the 70+ miles of trail on the North Side. Hike here and you may not see another living soul. Seek solitude in the rugged hills and deep valleys, camp by river, lake or waterfall, explore bluffs and ridge tops. Ride horses along these back country trails or guide yourself on a spelunking trip into Ganter Cave. Drive the scenic routes of Houchins Ferry Road and Little Jordan Road. Seek out the Big Woods, one of the few remaining stands of old-growth timber in Kentucky. If you have a large group of friends, camp out at the Maple Springs Group Campground.
Mammoth Cave National ParkWe took Josh & Magen Whittinghill with us on this camping expedition. They said they really enjoyed it and can't wait to join us again next time. I am wondering this morning if they are as sore as we are!
We hiked the Sal Hollow trail to the Sal Hollow camp site. It was somewhere in between seven & eight miles in. The Sal Hollow trail was beautiful as always. It being the only trail not open to horses it's always in nice shape, and you see very few people while you are hiking. This year they opened it up to mountain biking, so we did see some bikers, but that is better than the horses because they don't ruin the trail by rutting it up & filling it with poo. We saw lots of wildlife, including white tail deer, butterflies, and squirrels. I am sure a lot more wildlife saw us than we saw. The white tail deer are very skinny this year. I am guessing from the drought & lack of nuts & such. The Sal Hollow trail has a few difficult grades, but wasn't that hard of a walk, the first 3.5 miles are quiet easy, with the second half being more difficult.
The campsite was a real disappointment, seeing it is one I have been wanting to get to for a while. The site seemed to be smaller than others we had stayed at, making it difficult to pitch two tents. There is not a water supply close to Sal Hollow, so if you are planning on purifying water once you get there, don't. Pack enough water for both days. There wasn't seating like their usually is. This site only had two logs, which weren't shaved flat for sitting, and were rotting. The worst part in my opinion was the fact that you could see the trail from the site. We were lucky, seeing only one other hiker at our site. Usually you are a good ways off from anyone else, and you never see another person except for who is in your group. The site really needs some attention from the maintenance crew, possibly even moved further off the trail.
On the hike out we hiked the rest of the Sal Hollow Trail, to the Buffalo Trail (3.5+ miles total). The rest of the Sal Hollow trail was just as beautiful as the first part, being only accessible to hikers & bikers. The Buffalo Trail is actually an access road, but was still really beautiful. It wasn't rutted up like some of the other trails, but we did have to avoid some horse droppings. The Sal Hollow section was pretty hilly, but I might have just felt that way due to the stiffness from the hike the day before. The Buffalo trail is a really easy hike, being fairly flat the whole way.
To get to Collie Ridge, we took the long way instead of the short route. We parked at Maple Springs and took the Sal Hollow hiking & mountain biking only trail. It was approximately 6.9 miles total. Then we took the Good Springs Loop the rest of the way to the site. It was a total of approximately 10 miles.
The Sal Hollow Trail was beautiful, some of the best scenery I have seen yet on any of our hikes. There were a few difficult grades, but not many. While you are on Sal Hollow make sure to watch for the Springs coming out of caves, especially on a hot day, it's like air conditioning in the woods. If you are going for a shorter hike than the full 6.9 miles I recommend taking the first section of the Sal Hollow Trail then going back the Buffalo Trail. The first section was pretty easy, it's approximately 3.9 miles.
After finishing Sal Hollow, we were back on hiking, biking, and horse trails. The trails were not bad though, besides stepping around horse poo, there were not alot of muddy places the horses had worn down like there are on other trails.
Collie Ridge, was one of the nicest back country sites we have been to. I liked it the best out off all of them, but Jonathan still prefers Raymer Hollow. Collie Ridge is smaller site than any of the other we have been to. It had the same fire pit, tent platform, and logs to sit on, but it was more compact into a smaller, more wooded area. Which made me feel less like I was camping in a designated site, and more like I was really out somewhere in the middle of nowhere (which we really were). It had a creek that babbled by us all night, making sleeping so peaceful and wonderful, it was amazing.
For our hike out we took the Collie Ridge Trail to the Good Springs Loop Trail back to the car. It is approximately 4.5 miles. These trails had more grades and were obviously more popular with the horse riders, because there were some really bad rutted up places from the horses. But they were still really attractive trails.
May 7-8, 2005 we went to Mammoth Cave National Park to camp in the back country For this particular trip we choose Raymer Hollow Campgrounds. We parked at the Lincoln trail head and took the Collie Ridge Trail (1.3 mi.) to the Raymer Hollow Trail (1.7 mi.). The hike was a total of approximately 4 miles total. The trails were both relatively clean and the scenery was wonderful. The Collie Ridge trail was wide enough to be a road and did not have as nice scenery overall as Raymer Hollow Trail. Collie Ridge had beautiful resting points, but not as good walking scenery. The largest problem with Collie Ridge is the muddy spots that the horseback riders create. Speaking of the horse back riders, if you are looking for a trail that you aren’t going to see anyone on this one is not for you, There is a stable near the Lincoln trail head parking and they ride people in large groups all day up and down this trail. The Raymer Hollow trail was very pretty. It was a much harder trail than Collie Ridge, with some steep inclines & declines. There were signs of horses on this trail too, but we didn't see anyone else on the entire trail. The hike from Raymer Hollow Trail to the actual campsite was another .4 miles.
Once we made it to the campsite we were so excited. It was absolutely beautiful. It sits on a ridge over a big creek. You can make your way up and down the creek banks close to a mile with relative ease and safety. On the creek we saw all sorts of wild life and interesting things. There is a spring bubbling from the cave just below the campsite. Since it’s coming from the cave it is very cold water and could be used for keeping food or drink cool. The water is very tasty after being filtered, it being a natural spring and all. The only downside to the campsite (as it is with most Mammoth Cave campgrounds) there is only space for one tent in the campsite. Any other tents you have for your camping party will have to be set up on uneven ground, just something to consider.
This was one of my least favorite campsites so far. We went this summer with Tessa and it was not what we had been expecting. The National Geographic map that is available has not been updated in 10 years, so we thought we were hiking to a site called Waterfall. When we went in to sign up for the campsite we found out that the names had been changed. This campsite had no water source, unless you hiked an additional half mile to a creek. Besides that is a nice sight. You can get to this sight two main ways, a beautiful 3.5 mile hike or a short, flat <1 mile hike. Both trails are relatively flat and easy, but if you will be carrying in coolers the short hike is great, most of it is actually road and I think there is even closer parking. If you are a serious backpacker this might not be the sight for you because of the lack of easily assessable water. This is a good hike and sight for kids though. We took Tessa and she really enjoyed the sight. There was a rope tied to a tree she swung on and she thought that was great. This sight would also be good if you had a group of people that wanted a longer hike and people who wanted a shorter hike because you could park in the same place and each follow different trail heads and meet at the sight. One problem with the hike was the trail heads were not well marked.
This is not as good of a campsite write up as I like to do, but I waited to long after camping to write it so I am going on memory here. If I think of anything else to add I will do so. Also if you have any questions feel free to contact me and I will be glad to answer them for you.