Carolinas, Georgia & South Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Alex Leviton [148]
OutVenture
Go paddling on an Outdoor Chattanooga-sponsored river kayaking trip. 423-842-6629; www.outdoorchattanooga.com; 1250 Market St, Chattanooga; kayak trip from $25
Raccoon Mountain Caverns
Trips through the 5.5 miles of underground passageways range from 45 minutes to overnight. 423-821-9403; www.raccoonmountain.com; 319 West Hills Dr, Chattanooga; adult/child $13/6; call for reservations;
Tennessee Bouldering Authority
Instructors from this indoor climbing gym lead guided trips to nearby sandstone cliffs. 423-822-6800; www.tbagym.com; 3804 Saint Elmo Ave # 102, Chattanooga; trips $150
EAT
Aretha Frankensteins
Hipsters and young local families dine on pancakes and beer on the porch of this funky North Shore cottage. 423-265-7685; 518 Tremont St, Chattanooga; mains $5-9; 7am-midnight;
Big River Grille & Brewing Works
This rollicking brewpub attracts a 20- and 30-something crowd for burgers, brews and live music. 423-267-2739; www.bigrivergrille.com; 222 Broad St, Chattanooga; mains $10-20; 11am-midnight Sun-Thu, to 2am Fri & Sat
SLEEP
Chattanooga Choo-Choo Holiday Inn
Book one of the refurbished train cars at this bustling hotel complex, in the town’s old railway terminal. 423-266-5000, 800-872-2529; www.choochoo.com; 1400 Market St; r from $119, railcars $169;
Harrison Bay State Park
Camp at one of the 27 campsites in this lakeside wilderness. 423-344-7966; 8411 Harrison Bay Rd, Harrison, TN; campsite $25;
USEFUL WEBSITES
www.chattanoogafun.com
www.outdoorchattanooga.com
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LINK YOUR TRIP www.lonelyplanet.com/trip-planner
TRIP
9 The Great Smokies
10 Appalachian Trail
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Return to beginning of chapter
TRIP 61
Mammoth Cave
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WHY GO Gawk at the monstrous stone chambers, alien-looking rock formations and bottomless pits of the world’s most extensive cave system. Toss in a trip to the Bowling Green Corvette factory and a night at a wigwam-themed motel, and you’ve got yourself an old-fashioned American road trip.
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TIME
2 days
DISTANCE
50 miles
BEST TIME TO GO
May - Sep
START
Mammoth Cave NP, KY
END
Bowling Green, KY
ALSO GOOD FOR
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So you’re driving through the Green River valley of central Kentucky, admiring the leafy countryside, the quiet rolling hills. You turn onto Park City Rd, not another car in sight. Then onto Mammoth Cave Parkway, passing under the shady branches of sugar maples and sycamores, the hum of your engine the only sound.
Then...bam! You’re in the parking lot of the Mammoth Cave National Park. A thousand cars bake in the hot sun as visitors from all over the world kill time before their scheduled cave tour. A family of Spanish tourists snaps pictures of each other in various poses in front of the park sign, a Vietnamese mother doles out peanut M&Ms to her three bored children. As many as 7000 visitors come to the park every day, more than 2 million visitors a year. It’s like the UN, in the middle of nowhere.
The only way to visit the cave is through one of the daily ranger-guided tours. Buy tickets at the visitors center, choosing from nearly 20 tours of the cave’s 360 miles of surveyed passageway. Tours range from 30 minutes to 6½ hours; reserve in advance so you don’t have to wait. The nearly 20 options include the Violet City Lantern Tour, recreating the experience of visiting the cave in the 1800s, the Wild Cave Tour, belly crawling through tight passageways and scrambling over jagged rocks, and the Grand Avenue Tour through the caves’ biggest interior cathedrals and elaborate crystalline gypsum formations. The fascinating Historic Tour takes you through man’s oft-troubled relationship with the cave.
The oldest parts of Mammoth began forming 10 million years ago. Native Americans discovered it around 2000 BC, entering to gather minerals and leaving behind slippers, gourd