Lost River Cave & Valley

I had to review this place for some reason because I had gone to it with a friend way back in September 9, 2013 (don’t even ask me how I remember that) and I just saw a small commercial for it on CN2.
Crazy that the tour guides are able to drive a boat, where you are practically ducking for like 5 – 10 minutes under a HUGE rock shelf (I mean what happens if the boat just stalled, would you have to duck like that until death? How would anyone rescue you?); however, those weird stone icicles were awesome as well.
I never learned much because the guide was attractive; however, it was quite an experience.
I saw the CN2 commercial and I was like O_​O «I had been there!»

Well worth the visit, short but sweet, historical site, a nice gift shop.
Look out for the white squirrels, there are quite a few, but they are elusive. We were just there and saw several scratching through the leaves.

The three of us did the «Cave Crawl». I haven’t seen a specific review for this tour yet, so wanted to make sure I relayed our experiences.
The cave itself is located just off a main street in Bowling Green, near liquor stores, banks and gas stations. Don’t expect this to be in the wilderness. There are some hiking trails and trees along the river. We saw one of the ‘white squirrels’ hiking down to the river. There is ample parking, including room for RVs. The gift shop was kind of kitschy, but an interesting place for our tour to start.
We did this adventure in November just after a storm blew through. It was quite cold outside (maybe 40 degrees). Inside the cave, it was a comfortable 57 degrees. Even though we wanted multiple layers outside the cave, inside the cave a single layer was fine. They provided our group with gloves and knee pads. They were cold and wet from previous tours, but were very helpful and highly recommended. I am not sure if they provide these items for every tour. Helmets and lights are also provided and essential.
The guides were great, knowledgeable and fun. One was in the front of the group and another in the back. We visited about three rooms in the cave with short walks/​crawls in between. We had the opportunity to explore the rooms to see the rocks and critters. We saw one bat (sleeping) and one salamander (crawling away) along with lots of cave crickets.
READ the materials you get with the tour, they are accurate. YOU WILL GET MUDDY AND WET. I spent the first 40% of the tour trying to keep clean, but the last crawl is only about 24″ high for about 100 feet. You can not stay on your feet, you have use your forearms/​elbows and kick with your legs to move along. The ground is a very thick clay type of mud and there are muddy pools of water every 10 – 20 feet. Just go with it and crawl through them. Bring a COMPLETE change of clothes. Like the materials say, socks and underwear too. Otherwise, you will be very uncomfortable going home. They do have bathrooms near the cave where you can store extra clothes and change afterwards. Lastly, it is unlikely that yo
Overall, a great trip. Would have been better with a hot shower or at least a warmer place to change clothes at the end. Much more fun and exciting than the boat tour.

I had a ball. The other reviews describe it very well, but we went in November and the cave was a little warmer inside when we went in and then when we got back out and back up to the top it had warmed up nicely.
Our guide Heather was very friendly, knowlegable, and funny. She was entertaining and fun. The tour is very relaxing and not rigorous at all. The cave does not have a lot of structures or any crystals or fantastic formations. It’s more that it is just a lot of fun with some history mixed in.
If you are looking for a big bang this isn’t it, if you are looking for relaxed pace, interesting history, a nice cave, nature walk and white squirrels with fun tour guides this would be for you. It was just what I wanted. I would love to go again if I have the time.

A fantastic little adventure. It was very interesting to learn the history of the cave and all of the ways in which it has been used. I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the blue hole was in person. Kayaking was better than going on the boat ride. Our guides were awesome. Delaney had so much knowledge and she was a real joy. AJ was a little rude and impatient towards the end there but I would still recommend this activity.

We stopped here after finding a brochure in a rest stop during a very long road trip. It was a nice break and something different to see. I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit again, as I have been on far larger and more impressive cave tours. The guide was friendly and funny, and everyone was very accommodating to our 9 month old baby. It was a great place to take a couple hour break from the rv.

Bit of warning — GPS will take you there, you won’t believe there’s a cave there based on the businesses around. It’s like «oh hi Sonic, gas station, stuff that should be no where near a… oh hello cave!»
I’m sort of amazed by the reviews of people writing that they’d drive infinity miles without calling to check if the caves are flooded (it’s a cave and a boat ride, these things flood out and sell out.) We called, asked if the tours were on, whether we could get a 2.5 year old and a 4 week old (no problem, although they warned us some toddlers refuse the life jacket and that’s non-​negotiable) headed up from Nashville and got in no problem.
Toddler loved the playground area and crawling through the fake cave (giant tube) and enjoyed the waiting time. The boat tour, it’s about a quarter mile if that, very slow, if you’re claustrophobic there’s approximately two minutes right at the beginning where you have to duck your head as the boat slowly goes under a rock, but you can see light beyond that will give you some hope, and then the cave ceiling goes up to maybe 40 feet, lit, feels open.
The water is waist high, so if you fall out of the boat, eh, you’ll be fine. Supposedly since 1994 zero people have fallen out of the boat. If the water goes any higher they can’t get the boat under the claustrophobic rock, which would mean the tour on the boat would be about 12 feet.
It’s a bit expensive, and if your toddler has no attention span you’ll find you miss out on a lot of what you’re paying for, but the boat ride was captivating. The butterfly gardens were ok, they needed a little bit of tending to and were a bit small, but it was nice.
Two things I’d suggest they do to make it more family friendly is have something for toddlers to do at the first waiting area where you wait for a boat, and something at the first stop on the tour where the fence is not sufficient to keep a walker from going into the Blue Hole. Me and another dad ended up playing run around the tree to keep our toddlers from making a ruckus.

Very nice tour. Only a little short, but that’s nature. Great tour guide, very passionate! Highly recommend.

My friend and I took a spur of the moment detour to Lost River Cave on a road trip up I65. We had few expectations going in, but were pleasantly surprised by the whole experience. The tour guide was very friendly and knew her stuff. The cave itself was nice (bring a sweater, even when it’s hot and humid outside it can get quite chilly inside the cave). The history of the space was really interesting. If you’re on a long road trip and eager to stretch your legs and get in a bit of nature/​history at the same time, this is a good spot to do so!

Beat the heat and HUMIDITY! Take the tour!!!
Thank you for a great tour, and excellent service from every staff member we encountered.
I apologize for not remembering our guides name (@1:30pm on August 4^th). He was funny and honest. He knew his jokes were cheesy, but he owned them.
I took my 9 year old son, and we did the mining for gems. He had fun with it, and he was pleasantly surprised with the size and quantity her got from the ‘basic’ bag.
If you can’t justify the cost there are still nice nature trails throughout the park that don’t cost a thing. The butterfly habitat is quite nice. There are three blue holes to check out.
If you are wavering on going or not, do it. It’s better than blowing money on a movie in a theater that you could wait to see on Netflix or redbox for far less when you don’t have anything better to do.

After driving an hour & a half to get here, we find out that they are sold out for the day. There was no way to buy tickets online before coming, & no indication until you get to the ticket counter that they are full. There was no offer to make it up on a future visit. Now we’ve wasted a huge portion of our day & are scrambling to find something else to do or head home.

This is a great way to end a vacation day. Small enough to spend a morning or early afternoon. Look for white squirrels on their trails

Who knew that such a HUGE cave would be in the middle of such a heavily populated area. The tour was short, but very informative and honestly couldn’t have been much longer without a shore walk in the cave. Our guide knew the cave and area history inside and out, and he was funny too. As he put it, he had been playing in the cave since he was 8 and jumped the gate with the big «no trespassing» sign on it. He hung around so much they finally gave him a job. Overall a fun tour and the nature trails that anyone can see with or without a tour are just a bonus. A gem in the middle of Bowling Green.

Stopped by on a whim. Our guide on the boat was Tanya, she was great! She was very knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor. Highly recommend

Expensive, but worth it. Wish we had more time to hike to the springs and butterfly habitat. The boat tour guide was very passionate and interesting. I learned a lot and enjoyed even more eye candy. A tad claustrophobic entering and exiting the cave for about one minute total each way. Best part-​the beautiful blue holes!!!

Lost River Cave was a fun part of my family’s quick day trip to Bowling Green. We got on the 2^nd tour of the day with about 6 others. The guide was very knowledgeable and engaging with our group.
The tour starts in the woods after a short walk, and you get to hear about some history of the blue/​green water and the depth of the bottomless hole. You then continue on about how they still hold functions such as weddings there and then get to the cave and boat tour.
The tour is about ½ hour and for the beginning of the boat tour you have to be flexible for about 20 seconds in and 20 seconds out. You can use your imagination. The rest of it shows some interesting natural formations. You also get to hear stories of how the place got started as a dance hall and jazz juke joint for the big bands. Another story tells about Jesse James.
Nice to do at least once and then you can go visit other caves. I’d recommend the tour.
AAA gets you 10% off, and a Unilocal check-​in gets your kids a discounted tour/miner’s gravel to sift through for some colored minerals!

My wife has been wanting to go here on our last 3 trips to Bowling Green so this time we were going to make it no matter what.
It is an interesting tour. The trip into the cave doesn’t take too long — maybe 30 minutes. But it is nice and cool and is a nice break on a hot sweltering summer day.
It is interesting to see the dance floor and imagine the big bands playing there and people dancing.
The trails are not too long. Wear good shoes as the trails have rocks roots and steps to walk over. Watch your step so you don’t trip.
A little pricey for what you get but it goes to help preserve the park.

I always love going to Lost River Cave. It’s a cool place to jog through the valley and shop. However, it is not a good place to Geocache, as the boxes are constantly stolen. 4 stars! :)

Tour started every hour. If you missed this one, you have to wait for another hour.
Worth it!

I live in Bowling Green and go here often to walk the trails. There are no long trails, but some well maintained short jaunts, including a few historical buildings and a butterfly habitat. It makes for a fun afternoon.