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Mammoth Cave National Park has some fascinating trails and the Mammoth Cave Trail Guide thoroughly describes them. Locals are fully aware of the quality hiking, but Mammoth Cave is seldom mentioned in the hiking world. The caves steal the limelight—appropriately perhaps—but the trails are nothing to dismiss. In fact, the trails at Mammoth Cave are some of the most interesting and unique that you'll find anywhere. Karst topography supplies an interconnected cave, stream, and trail system that turns most hikes at Mammoth Cave into enjoyable geology lessons. The park is an oversized geologic showcase, with the caves being just one part of the display. Unless you explore the above ground features of the park you'll never fully appreciate the caves or the interconnectivity of the system. Fortunately for the casual explorer, the easier trails near the Visitor Center are some of the more revealing ones. The longer trails are more challenging and remote. All in all, I seriously doubt that anyone will be disappointed with the hiking potential at Mammoth Cave National Park. That said, horses keep many steep sections of trail in disarray. (That's a kind way of saying they butcher them, so all is not blissful.)
I keep thinking that I'll take this book out of print. Since the Park Service at Mammoth Cave National Park would never approve it for sales at the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center, for dubious reasons, it naturally had a lackluster response, but every time I read a few pages I wonder why I would want to discontinue it. In fact, I like it so much that I may update it later. I still think that it's the best reference for hiking trails at Mammoth Cave National Park and if I were a first-time visitor to the park, this is the hiking guide I would prefer. The elevation profiles alone set it apart from the competition and the fact that the Park Service won't approve it tells you that it contains information that you might not find in the "approved" trail guide. (Who knew they were so sensitive?)
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