1. Charge your batteries!  (And bring a spare!)

Most tours at Mammoth Cave National Park are over an hour long.  The two tours we took were three and four hours long!  Your eyes are working overtime in the dark, and so is your camera.  Be sure to bring extra batteries for your trip. There won’t be any place to grab a spare along the way!

2. Get a camera that does well in low lighting situations

Being able to crank the ISO without too much noise is a must for these dark conditions.  There are sporadic lights along most of the cave routes to guide you along the path.  Even still, tours move at a quick pace, and in order to get clear images, a fast shutter speed is a must!  I used my Sony RX-100 to document our cave exploring.

3. Look Up

The cave rooms are huge.  There is so much to see in front of you that it is sometimes easy to forget to look up.  Above the cave paths, there are thousand-year-old cracks in infrastructure, stalactites forming strange shapes, and even a stick that was somehow wedged in a gap in the ceiling, 30 feet off the ground. Keep your eyes looking all around you, you never know what you’ll see.

4. Lead the pack

Some tour groups can have upwards of 50 people.  The closer you are to the front of the line, the less you’ll be playing catch-up.  Stick near the Park Ranger leading the tour for the most photo opportunities.  As an added bonus, you’ll get even more behind-the-scenes information that the back of the group isn’t hearing.

5. Bring a water bottle

On our four hour tour, there were two stops along the way for water and bathrooms, but on the three hour tour, there was no stopping for the entire duration of the hike.  I know this list is supposed to be about photographing the park, but nothing sucks the inspiration out of a photographer like the distraction of thirst.

6. Leave the Tripod at home!

You can’t bring your tripod on your cave tour.  Seriously, don’t do it.

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The post Six Tips for Photographing Mammoth Cave National Park first appeared on Greetings From Kelly.

Cave City, KY is not only home to Mammoth Cave National Park, it’s also home to one of the last three remaining Wigwam Village Motels.  After our stay in Cave City, we have officially been to all three Wigwam Motels.

Wigwam Village #2: http://wigwamvillage.com 
Mammoth Cave National Park official Page: https://www.nps.gov/maca
List of Tours of the Cave Winter of 2018-2019: https://www.nps.gov/maca/planyourvisit/winter-schedule.htm

Tours we did at Mammoth Cave National Park:

Violet City Lantern Tour

This tour is held completely by lantern light to give visitors the experience of what it was like to tour this cave when it first opened.  It’s amazing just how much you can see without electricity.  We got to carry one of the lanterns.  I didn’t at all feel like we were missing out on anything by having less light.  It was a truly unique experience.  (3 miles; 3 hours – no bathrooms or water fountains available on this route)

Grand Avenue Tour

The most bang for your buck.  You can see four miles of this incredible cave in an afternoon.  This tour moves very fast, but this gives you a really good idea of just how drastically the terrains change as you move throughout the cave.  This is not to be missed.

Trouble hearing?

You’re not alone.  I often find myself frustrated on large group tours like these. Unless I am able to have the better ear positioned in close proximity to the tour guide, I often miss most if not all of what is being shared.  In the past, this has caused me to get very frustrated.  

Mammoth Cave National Park was THE BEST when it came to helping accommodate this so I had a great experience. They offer listening assist devices completely free of charge at the information desk.  Just ask for a device, and they’ll hook your tour guide up with a microphone so you can hear everything crystal clear.  I couldn’t believe the difference this made on our tours.  I was so happy to not have to lean over to Jason at every stop and say “So what did she say after _____?”  Please do not hesitate to grab one of these devices for your tour.  It makes all the difference.

Interested in Staying at the Wigwam Village Motel in Cave City? Check out my post here to find out more about this must-see spot!

Everything You Need to Know About Visiting the Wigwam Village Motel in Cave City, KY

The post Mini-Moon: Mammoth Caves National Park first appeared on Greetings From Kelly.