Mammoth Cave National Park and Campground

April and May 2024, 6 nights, campsite 85

Mammoth Cave National Park loop C campsites

Campground

There was no one at the entrance booth when we arrived, so we proceeded to our reserved site. There are no tags or reserved signs on the sites, so if you do not have a reservation, it is difficult to know which sites are available. We did see staff at the entrance off and on during our stay; just not when we arrived.

Mammoth Cave National Park campsite 85 in loop C

We had reserved campsite 85, which is a pull through site in loop C on the right side of the road. It is a spacious and mostly private site; however, it floods during rain.

View from campsite 85 in Mammoth Cave National Park loop C

If you have a pull through site on the left side of the road, be aware that your camper door will be facing the road, unless you turn around and pull through backwards. You can get pretty good views of the campsites in this park on their website and on google maps. One night of our stay, a camper pulled into site 84, a pull through site across the road from us. They opted to stay parked backwards with their camper door open; facing the road and us. Since it is basically just the roadway between our tar pad and theirs, we could easily hear them when we went to bed that evening, even though our bed is at the front of our camper (they were also a loud group of 4 people).

Other than the site flooding when it rained, we liked campsite 85. A couple of other sites we liked were 90 (loop C), and 13, and 11 in B loop. There are two full hookup sites in this campground, 91 and 93, which we were not aware of before this stay. When I looked at the reservation site again during our stay, I saw that these sites are listed as FCFS. Both of these sites looked nice, although it looked like the cost might be twice as much as the other sites. 

Sign posted by restrooms in Mammoth Cave National Park loop C 

Overall, this campground was a noisy place during our stay, and no rules were enforced. During part of our stay, the person on campsite 71 ran a very loud generator (loud generators not allowed, it says) all day long. We were quite a ways away from that site, and could easily hear it. We happened to be chatting with someone at the dump station when we left a few days later, and learned he had been on the campsite across from the loud generator. He said everyone in his area was happy when that camper departed the day before us.

Laundry facilities in Mammoth Cave National Park

Amenities

Along with a sanitation station, this campground has laundry facilities, pay showers, and a post office behind the camp store. The washers were $1.75, and the dryers cost $1.50 for 45 minutes. Flush toilets and fresh water are available in each campground loop. 

Seating area in lodge in Mammoth Cave National Park

Mammoth Cave, Kentucky / National Park Campground, Cave Tours, and more

September 2016, Weekend-weekday, 3-nights, Campsite 71

Domes & Dripstones Cave Tour; info at the end of this post

Reservations, arrival, check-in

We wanted to reserve a campsite at Mammoth Cave National Park before our arrival; however, the park stops accepting campground reservations for the season on September 15th, which was a few days before our stay. You can still make reservations for the tours, although not the campground.

When we arrived, the ranger told us to turn in Loop C, find a site that we fit on, and then come back and pay. The cost was $20 per night, and we could pay by check or credit card.

Campground map; click to enlarge

Campsite 71

We had walked through this campground a year earlier when we passed through the area. At that time, we had thought sites 71, 73, and 80 were all good sites. We did not notice the traffic direction until we drove into the campground; all of the perimeter sites in Loop C are on the wrong side of the road to pull in with an RV (unless you want to face the road instead of your fire pit!). We decided to turn around through site 72, and then we chose site 71. Fortunately, there was not much traffic when we left, because we did not try to turn around again at that time. We passed one non-camping vehicle on our way out, and he pulled off the road to let us by.

View from our camper on site 71