cedar sink trail

The site for reviewing Mammoth Cave is so full of options it does not lend itself to such reviews as this: There ARE alternatives to caving at the park. This is especially handy to know if you have little ones or people who just do not want to go under ground. There are trails that are worth walking. There are picnic areas and scenic views. There is simply people watching because this is a national park and people come here from all over the world. Don't forgo the visit just because you think it is all under ground. Let some hike, some sit and watch, and some take a cave tour all at the same time. Meet back up in the dining hall. The food is good and reasonable.

We had just reached Mammoth cave hotel and preferred to go for some trails before sunset as the next day we had booked tours. This one was short & nearby so we tried it first. A neat path with comfortable walkway couple of stairs when nearing the depression..it took us about an hour for the complete trip..taking kids can be fun as its not very tiresome and they will enjoy the walk.

About a mile long. Lots of stairs in the loop. Very pretty surroundings, mosty woods with some rocky cut offs. I loved the landing areas for picture taking and sitting to just take it all in. Path is well maintained.

Well marked trail with walkways and plenty of stairs. Approximately 1 mile total - this trail takes you around a large sinkhole with displays along the trail.

Not a lot to see on this trail. It's pretty, but just not a lot of scenic views.. Just a lot of the same views you get from the other trails in the park

The nature trail is well made, takes you through tall forested areas, down, and back up, many stairs. The destination is a very large Sinkhole, maybe 100 yards by 50 yards, but irregular in shape and heavily treed for the most part. You see a river emerge from under some cliffs, then drop back underground. This is away from the Visitor Center, requires a short drive, and we were the only visitors on this trail in the entire hour we were there on a July Saturday afternoon. Peaceful and interesting.

There are dozens of hikes at Mammoth, but we only did the Cedar Sink Trail hike. It’s a nice hike, easy for kids to do, and has some good variety near the end. It was a pretty hike. We were out and back in about an hour. Since we did it early in the day, it wasn’t packed with people. We were able to complete a lot of the Jr. Ranger book on the hike too. Overall we saw a lot of wildlife including turkeys by the dozen, deer, turtles and quail or grouse.

This hike doesn't take too long and there is plenty of shade on a sunny day. There are some stairs to descend which would tire out some folks who are not in great shape or who have bad knees. But the views are nice and the trails are well marked and not crowded at all.

Fascinating topography. Saw some hawks. About 1.6 miles round trip with some nice elevation changes in and out of the sinkhole.

Not a long hike, but nice. Beautiful nature all around. Saw many bats hanging when we got to cedar sink.

Although it was a 3/4 miles ramble to the sink, the kids in our group (from 6 months old to 11 years) did very well. The boys in the group loved the sink area, climbing on the rocks and trying to throw things into the water. We visited in winter and only saw one other group come through in the hours or so we played at the sink. It was a very pretty area, but not exactly photogenic with so many trees blocking the "grand"-ish views.

I read good reviews on Trip Advisor for this trail and decided to check it out.Its a beautiful trail and leads to some canyon like formations at the end of the trail.If you go when its hot, there is plenty of shade most of the way, so it is a very pleasant hike. There are sink holes along the way which was interesting. There are quite a few stairs to get to a higher elevation, which gave you a work out. We saw some deer grazing in the grassy area. After you get to the canyon section, there is another set of stairs that goes up. That takes you back to the original trail, but its a shortcut and you avoid all those stairs that you took originally.

This 45 min loop hike was a good way to see some top-side attractions at the park. Great trail conditions with stairs built to descend into and out of the sink hole. Good to do between cave tours. It's a 10-15 min drive from the visitor center. Saw deer and turkeys in route. Wild flowers added to the beauty of this hike.

Cedar Sink trail is a nice moderate trail climbing down into a large sinkhole. From there you see an area where an underground stream comes to the surface and then drains back below ground. There are lots of stairs. At the Y in the trail, take the left side going down the steep side and returning up the more gradual grade (still lots of stairs, but very do-able with an observation deck part way up). We saw lots of wildflowers and the views were pretty.

Without doing the actually cave tour this was pretty cool. I knew the area had trails and Im glad I found this one. Worth it to hike out and see the views. I found this more entertaining then I would have found a cave tour.