Mammoth Cave Trails Open in Fall 2026: Where to Walk

This fall, the center of Mammoth Cave National Park is largely a work zone. The National Park Service lists the Old Guides Trail, Heritage Trail, Sunset Point Trail and parts of the Sinkhole Trail as closed for a rehabilitation project. The lodge entrance road and parking lot have been torn up since February 2026. The Green River Ferry is out of service because the river has dropped too low to run it.

The rest of the park is still open, though, and it's spread out along roads you probably drive already. Many of the short trails that are open start from small trailheads near the park boundary, not from the visitor center lot. For fall 2026, the useful map is the one built around access roads.

What's Closed Around the Visitor Center, and for How Long

The Heritage Trail work has been going on longer than first planned. In January 2025, WNKY reported a projected finish of September 2025. A year past that date, the park's current alerts still list the trail as closed. When it's finished, the plan replaces much of the wooden boardwalk with a hardened cement surface. It also adds a large level area behind the hotel's north exit and a small amphitheater for 15 to 20 people that rangers can use for programs.

Three projects overlap near the front door right now:

• Heritage Trail rehabilitation. The project page says the visitor center pedestrian bridge, the hotel's north entrance at the back, the Heritage Trail and the Old Guides Trail are all closed during construction. The page was last updated August 25, 2026.
• Lodge parking lot and entrance road. The work started in February 2026. It realigns the entry points and adds a separate lane for cave tour buses, a service entrance and better overflow parking. The page was last updated September 21, 2026, and it gives no completion date.
• Frozen Niagara Road and Cave City Road intersection. The work runs from December 2025 through fall 2026 and covers a realignment, new signs and a permanent gate. NPS suggests adding 10 minutes if you come in by Cave City while crews are working. In May, WNKY reported that work had resumed, with more truck and equipment traffic on Cave City Road and possible short delays.

The lodge itself is open. Its restaurants, coffee shop, shops and check-in desk stay open through construction, but lodge parking may be limited or moved. The two project pages disagree about the pedestrian bridge between the visitor center and the lodge. The Heritage Trail page says it's closed, and the newer parking lot page describes using it to reach the lodge's back entrance. If you have a cave tour time to make, call the visitor center at (270) 758-2180 first.

The Open Trails, Sorted by the Road That Gets You There

None of the trails below appear on the park's current closure list. Lengths come from the park's trail listings, and trailhead locations come from the park's Map & Guide.

Five of the six trailheads are away from the construction. Green River Bluffs is the exception, because it starts at the visitor center picnic area. The two Brownsville Road walks are close enough together to do on one drive. Sloan's Crossing is the easier stop, a flat boardwalk loop shorter than half a mile. Turnhole Bend is next on the same road. NPS notes that whether you can see Turnhole Bend Spring from its overlook depends on the season and how much leaf cover there is. That makes late fall, after the leaves drop, a good time to try it.

Cedar Sink is the best one-mile walk the park has open right now. The loop goes down into the sinkhole instead of following a ridge, so you see the karst ground that sits over the cave system from the bottom.

The Cave City Road side is where the intersection work is. Sand Cave is a 0.1-mile boardwalk right at the park boundary, which makes it an easy stop if you're already headed that way. The reroute crews work on the same corridor, so the 10 extra minutes NPS suggests apply here as well.

Echo River Spring is an odd case this season. Its trailhead shares a parking area with the Green River Ferry, and the ferry isn't running. The trail is still open, and it's one of the park's three wheelchair-accessible trails, along with Sand Cave and Sloan's Crossing Pond. While the Heritage Trail's accessible boardwalk is closed, those three are the accessible walking options. The Accessible Tour inside the cave was suspended in a May 6, 2026 alert because the cave elevator was out of service. Call the visitor center to check its status before you plan around it.

Getting to the North Side Without the Ferry

The Green River Ferry reopened March 5, 2026 after major flood-damage repairs, with daily service from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Low water has stopped it again. The park says service will resume once the river rises and it's safe to run. The ferry hotline is (270) 758-2166, and the park posts status updates on its Roads and Ferry feed on X.

Without the ferry, the park's directions to the north side follow Mammoth Cave Parkway south to KY-70E toward Brownsville, then KY-259N, KY-728, State Highway 1827 and State Highway 1352 to Green River Ferry Road. On that side, Maple Springs Campground is the access point for the Big Hollow North Loop. The loop is 5.3 miles through dense woods and rocky outcrops, with a 1-mile connector to the Big Hollow trailhead. Because the drive goes through Brownsville, the trip makes more sense as a half-day than a quick stop.

The north side may see more trail use later. In February 2026, NPS proposed a rule that would allow bicycles on about 37 miles of multi-use trails and horseback riding on the 5.4-mile Houchin Ferry North/Ollie Ridge Road. The comment period closed April 10. It's still a proposal, not a new rule.

The Railroad Trail From the South End

The Mammoth Cave Railroad Bike & Hike Trail follows the old railroad route for 9 miles. It has a 5.1-mile south segment from the South Park Entrance and a 3.3-mile north segment that starts at hotel parking. Hotel parking is limited or moved during construction, so the South Park Entrance is the more reliable place to start this season. The route has historic sites, interpretive signs and overlooks.

Dates Between Now and the End of November

1. Sundays through October 25: "Let's Go Birding" is a free guided bird walk led by a volunteer, starting at 8:30 a.m. It meets on the back porch of the visitor center and covers a moderate 1 to 1.5 miles.
2. November 15 to 28: The Broadway Tour runs daily at 10:15 a.m., 11:15 a.m. and 12:45 p.m., with an added 2 p.m. tour on weekends. Tickets are $22 for adults, $17 for youth and $6 for ages 3 to 5. The park has no entrance fee. NPS strongly recommends booking on Recreation.gov because walk-up tickets aren't guaranteed.
3. November 30: The Mammoth Cave and Maple Springs campgrounds close for the season. Houchin Ferry Campground stays open year-round at $20 a night.
4. December 25: The visitor center is closed Christmas Day. Regular hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

If family is visiting for the holidays, the park's six completed family cabins can be reserved now. Each sleeps up to 10 people, and the last two are expected by spring 2027. For a stop after the Cave City Road side, Cave City Distilling Company held its grand opening July 3 and is now on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. It offers a one-hour guided tour with four pours for $15 or a 30-minute tasting for $10. It's open until 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Living near Mammoth Cave means knowing which trailhead is open, which road gets you there, and whether the river is high enough for the ferry. If you're thinking about a home or acreage near one of these trailheads, from Brownsville Road to the north side past Maple Springs, Shauna Gravil knows these roads well. Schedule a free consultation and she'll help you compare properties.