Mammoth Cave National Park
Mammoth Cave, Kentucky
Watch for white crickets, eyeless cave fish and rare bat species on a hike through the world’s largest known cave. Mammoth Cave National Park stands out from most other parks as a “grand, gloomy and peculiar place,” as early guide Stephen Bishop famously described it.
“Some parts of the cave are huge. It’s like being in a gymnasium,” said Vickie Carson, public information officer for Mammoth Cave National Park. “You go through some very picturesque areas. The Frozen Niagara looks like a frozen waterfall, but it’s made of stone.”
Groups can choose from several guided tours past the cave’s most notable formations, including Grand Avenue, Frozen Niagara and Fat Man’s Misery. Lighted tours range from one to six hours long with focuses on the unusual cave formations, the cave’s human history and its geologic prehistory.
Many visitors choose one of the park’s two lamp-lit tours for a more historical way to explore the caverns. Paraffin lamps carried by participants create interesting shadows and add to the mysterious ambiance of the World Heritage Site.
For adventurous groups looking to stray from the familiar path, the park offers a Wild Cave Tour that ventures away from the developed parts of the cave. Groups of up to 14 people crawl and climb into muddy tunnels to see gorgeous sections of the cave that are inaccessible on the shorter tours.
Ozark National Scenic Riverways
Van Buren, Missouri
Float down cool, clear waters fed by hundreds of freshwater springs at the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. The park protects the Current and Jack Fork rivers, which serve as perfect waterways for canoeing, kayaking and tubing.
“We get a lot of folks that come here to experience the beautiful, natural wonders of the Riverways,” said Dena Matteson, acting chief of interpretation for the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. “We have very clear rivers with natural springs up and down the Riverway. Some of those are unique cultural and historic sites.”
The first national park area to protect a river system draws visitors for its pristine waters and historic sites, such as Alley Mill, Welch Hospital and Big Spring.
The 1894 Alley Mill displays much of the original milling equipment, as well as exhibits on the life of early Ozark settlers. Rangers give guided tours of the mill and the nearby Storeys Creek One Room Schoolhouse, which interprets educational techniques of early 1900s rural America.
Depending on the time of year, groups will also be able to join in special hikes, concerts and cultural demonstrations at the park. Traditional craft demonstrations occur regularly with opportunities for visitors to sample some hoecake, listen to Bluegrass music or learn how to make lye soap.
To experience a wide range of historic interpretations, groups attend the Ozark Heritage Day Event each June. Wool spinning, pottery-making, chair caning and fiddle-making are just a few of the many traditional skills on display at the park’s Big Spring.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Stand above a world of green at the Clingman’s Dome overlook at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Peaking at 6,643 feet, Clingman’s Dome is the highest point in Tennessee, with 360-degree Smoky Mountain views that extend 100 miles on a clear day.
Groups willing to climb a steep half-mile walk to the mountain-top tower will be rewarded with these verdant panoramas, available only when weather conditions allow access.
“Many groups also follow the Newfound Gap Road, which was designed with scenic vistas in mind, so it’s a great driving experience for people to view the mountains,” said Dana Soehn, management assistant and public affairs officer for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “The drive crosses from 1,000 feet in elevation to 5,000 and then back down.
“We compare it to someone traveling from southern Georgia all the way to Maine because of the change in elevation.”
At the park’s northern entrance sits the Sugarland Visitor Center, which provides an overview of the park with exhibits, a 30-minute film and ranger-led accessible walks to a nearby waterfall and a historic cabin. At the southern end of the Newfound Gap Road lies the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, which focuses on cultural artifacts with an adjacent Mountain Farm Museum. Visitors can watch farm life demonstrations and tour an apple house, a corncrib and other log structures.
Those seeking a longer stay at the park often explore Cades Cove, which is one of the park’s most popular destinations for scoping out wildlife and learning about the area’s 19th-century European settlers. Restored historic churches, a grist mill and other log houses line the 11-mile loop road.
Though the road has restrictions for vehicles larger than a school bus, groups can take smaller shuttle buses into the area.
Congaree National Park
Hopkins, South Carolina
Because of the slow, quiet way a canoe moves through water, paddlers on the Congaree River can sneak up on sunning turtles, thirsty white-tailed deer and playful river otters. Private outfitter Adventure Carolina offers guided canoe and kayak tours of the Congaree National Park for close encounters with the largest intact expanse of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in the southeast United States.
Waterways pass through primeval old-growth forests with some of the tallest trees in eastern North America. Guides discuss the natural and cultural history of the area. Because of the ancient plant species inside the park, a canoe trip can feel like a glimpse into the time of the dinosaurs.
The old-growth forest receives nutrients from the Congaree and Wateree rivers sweeping through the floodplain regularly. The park’s Harry Hampton Visitor Center describes this process and other information on the Congaree’s unusual ecosystem.
Inside the 12,000-square-foot visitor center stands the “Big Tree,” a synthetic bald cypress that flares 14 feet wide at its hollow base and soars up to the ceiling. Groups can marvel at this lifelike tree, as well as examine the center’s exhibits, film and wall mural of a forest scene.
Outside the center lies the park’s most popular and accessible trail: the 2.4-mile Boardwalk Loop Trail. Groups can either observe the bald cypress, tupelo, loblolly pines and other plant species at their own pace or follow a guided naturalist walk.
