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Brush Off Cabin Fever by Planning Your Next Trip to the LBL!

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Kentucky Lake Picture

Beautiful Kentucky Lake

As I tweeted yesterday, I’m not sure if I’m loving the “taste of spring” or hating the “tease of spring” the weather’s treating us to.  I guess, if you get right down to it, I’m loving it. Sure, I know we still have a few weeks of cold weather, but I see spring and summer on the horizon and they look beautiful.

To further whet our appetite for warmer weather, I wanted to pass along a little information from the LBL (Land Between the Lakes).  With the help of the public, Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area has made some changes that offer a few more opportunities for outdoor recreation in 2013.

Now there are even more places to use a Backcountry Camping Permit. A weekend of camping will cost less at Smith Bay and Birmingham Ferry Campgrounds since they have been converted to Backcountry Camping Areas.

Another new recreational opportunity is the opening of 8,500 acres to day-use, known as the Northern Nature Watch Area. This area is located east of the Woodlands Trace National Scenic Byway near Woodlands Nature Station and Taylor Bay, just off of Mulberry Flat Road (FS RD 135). This area is teaming with wildlife viewing opportunities by land and by water so bring binoculars and a camera!

Rushing Creek and Jones Creek Campgrounds have been closed to camping and vehicles due to budget reductions in maintenance as well as reduced visitation. However, Jones Creek Boat Ramp will remain open.

The 2013 season will begin on March 1. Be sure to visit the official website at www.lbl.org under Alerts and Notices for a full list of fee changes and other new information.

I can’t wait for trips (with camera in hand) back to  The Nature Station, the Homeplace, Kentucky Lake, the Elk and Bison Prairie.  Come to think of it, the weather doesn’t have to be overly warm to enjoy Land Between the Lakes.  Besides, the local catfish restaurants served fried catfish and the best hushpuppies in the world year round.

And I just so happen to be free this weekend….

Come Outside and Play at Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area. Managed by the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Land Between The Lakes provides outdoor recreation, lake access, and environmental education for the public to enjoy. Visitors are encouraged to review the official website at www.lbl.org often for Calendar of Events, updates on programs and policies, safety information, maps, temporary trail and road closures, and additional information, or call 800-LBL-7077 or 270-924-2000. Follow LBL on Twitter @LBLScreechOwl or @LandBtwnLakes.

See more pictures of Kentucky’s Land Between the Lakes!

Mammoth Cave National Park

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Mammoth Cave National Park was established to preserve the cave system, which includes not only the infamous Mammoth Cave, but the scenic river valleys of the Green and Nolin rivers, and a section of south central Kentucky as well. Within Mammoth Cave National Park lies the longest, and most remarkable cave systems on earth, with over 350 miles of passageway mapped and surveyed.  Little wonder it was named Mammoth.

Did You Know?
Stalactites grow downward they hang “tight” to the ceiling  while stalagmites grow upward they “might” reach the ceiling someday. Mammoth Cave’s formations include many types of calcite formations.

Even after 4,000+ years of eager exploration, this water-formed labyrinth still remains a mystery. It’s this fact, of course, that adds to its beauty and excitement.  Mammoth Cave National Park should be on everyone’s MUST SEE list – and maybe it’s because I’m a Kentuckian, but I think it should be very near the top.

This is one extra, extra special place.  The type of place you have to see to believe. The photography opportunities, alone, make a family trip to Mammoth Cave National Park more than worth it.

Mammoth Cave National Park: Cave Tour!

The National Park Service offers several cave tours to visitors. Many of the most famous features of the cave, such as Grand Avenue, Frozen Niagara, and Fat Man’s Misery, can be seen on lighted tours ranging from one to six hours in length. Two tours, lit only by visitor-carried paraffin lamps, are popular alternatives to the electric-lit routes. Several “wild” tours venture away from the developed parts of the cave into muddy crawls and dusty tunnels.

The park’s tours are notable for the quality of the interpretive program, with occasional graphics accompanying artifacts on display at certain points in the cave. The lectures delivered by the National Park Service cave guides are varied by tour, so that in taking several tours the visitor learns about different facets of the cave’s formation, or of the cave’s human history and prehistory.

A trip to the Mammoth Cave National Park could include:

  • Cave tours
  • Surface hikes
  • Canoeing on the Green River
  • A cruise on Miss Green River II
  • Picnicking, horseback riding, bicycling, camping and more.

If You’re Planning to Visit Mammoth Cave National Park:

  • Visitor Center Hours – Daily: 8:45 am – 5:15 pm
  • Click HERE for the Summer Cave Tours Schedule.
  • All cave tours and nature walks are pretty strenuous, so be sure you’re up to a particular tour before setting off.  Ask questions, the rangers can let you know exactly what will be involved.
  • Trails can be slick, so be certain to wear appropriate shoes.  All tours have a strict policy requiring the visitors to wear shirts and shoes.
  • Camera tripods and monopods, child strollers and infant backpack carriers are prohibited in the cave for visitor safety.
  • For further safety advice and tips, be sure to read the literature available at the park.  Most of it’s common sense, but read it all to be on the “safe side,” literally.
  • For all the information you could possibly ask for about Mammoth Cave National Park, Visit http://www.nps.gov/maca/

Did You Know?

Early guide Stephen Bishop called the cave a “grand, gloomy and peculiar place.“

Mammoth Cave National Park, 1887

Many believe that the best way to experience Mammoth Cave National Park is to camp out amongst the beauty. The park offers camping in three developed campgrounds and in more than a dozen primitive sites in the backcountry and along the Green and Nolin Rivers. Visit http://www.nps.gov/maca/planyourvisit/camping.htm for more information regarding the different campgrounds.

Did You Know?

The Green and Nolin Rivers course more than 30 miles through Mammoth Cave National Park, offering hours of boating, canoeing, fishing, and floodplain camping.

Mammoth Cave is the world’s longest known cave. As for the competition, if the second and third longest caves in the world were joined together, Mammoth Cave would still be the planet’s longest cave.  But that’s not all, there’d be over 100 miles left over!

Now tell me that’s not something you want to see close up and personal?

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