MAMMOTH CAVE — While driving back to Detroit from Florida just before Christmas, Matt Castiglione decided to take a short detour to Mammoth Cave National Park, where he embarked on the 2-mile Historic Tour inside the cave.

“If there was one word to describe it, I would say ‘impressive,’ almost unbelievable,” Castiglione said.

Castiglione was one of nearly 80 people on the tour on a recent afternoon during the holiday break period, not a peak time for park visitation, but busier than other times during the winter months. 

Now that the winter holidays have come to an end, weekday cave tours will drop to a maximum of 25 people for the historic tour, a prime time to see the world’s longest known cave system. “With a small group like that, everyone is talking with each other,” Park Ranger Leslie Price said.

A typical weekday tour in the winter months might include two to 10 people, Price said.

“You get to meet people from other parts of the world,” she said. “I have witnessed people become friends on the tours with other guests. It’s just relaxed … and conversational.”

Even though the recent tour just before Christmas was a big tour by winter numbers, several guests stayed in lock step with guide Kevin Carney, peppering him with questions about the cave and its history. He talked about the cave’s first residents, about the 2,000-year-old mummified remains of a man found in the cave who later became known as “Lost John” and many other tales that have become a part of the ever-evolving history of the park.

Carney of Park City is an insurance agent, tax accountant, real estate agent and auctioneer. For fun, he gives guided tours of the cave, land for which he has deep roots and strong love. 

His grandfather was a tour guide in the 1940s. The national park was established in 1941. 

Carney grew up traversing the land where his great-grandfather once owned a piece of farmland that is now part of the park. His great-grandparents are buried there. Carney’s great-uncle was one of the 18 original tour guides when the park was established.

“It’s the funnest thing I’ve ever done,” Carney said enthusiastically of his part-time job at the park. “I think when you love something as much as I love this place … you try to find out about it as much as you can.”

He shares as many stories about the cave and the land above as he possibly can pack in to a two-hour tour, pointing out the formations, historic cave graffiti left behind in the 1800s, and sometimes he includes some of his family history

“Smaller crowd sizes give you more one-on-one with your park ranger,” Carney said. “The temperature (in the cave) never changes. It’s warm in the winter and cool in the summer. With a smaller crowd, you’ve got more time to look at the displays.”

As for his family ties to the land, those stories “engage” the crowd, he said.

While the cave is the first thing people think of at the park, there are also 84 miles of wooded trails throughout the park.

“At this time of year when all the leaves have fallen, you can see the bare bones of the landscape,” Price said. “It’s also a great time to hike because there’s no ticks, no snakes, no poison ivy and very few people.

“I’ve been on hikes for seven or eight hours and not heard another single person.

“We’re seeing (bald) eagles this time of year,” she said. “We have one pair of bald eagles nesting on the Green River, just east of Houchens Ferry on the river.

“Anyone who is a birder would love this time of year. Even if you are not, just the sights and sounds of the birds near the river, as well as the stillness of the area, is so relaxing,” she said.

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