Lost River Cave

Category:	Non-Profit Organization
Address:	2818 Nashville Rd, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA
Phone:	+1 270-393-0077
Site:	lostrivercave.org
Rating:	4.4
Working:	9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 7

Stephanie Matthews

Lost River Cave offers boat tours. We paid for our tickets and spent some time in the little shop, then our group was up. The tour guide stopped us at the Blue Hole and gave us some of the sites history, all of which was already listed on the website. Excluding, of course, the fact that the true depth of the "Blue Hole" is no more than 20 feet. ("Oh, it still says 437 feet on the website? And our little trail marker? Well weve only had the correct measurements since 1980.") This is, at best anticlimactic. We finally made it to the dock, but our particular tour had been overbooked.The guides split us into two (strangely uneven) groups and the first group loaded up in their boat and embarked into the cave. Now...Im not sure why they book according to the number of people and not the weight theyre putting in that boat, but evidently we were just a bunch of fatties, because we bottomed that sucker out. The guide, clearly trying to hide his panic, said Uhhh they overbooked this one. This has never happened before but were taking on water. He radioed the front desk and told them he wasnt comfortable taking this boat out, and that it was taking on water. Strangely enough though, a few seconds later he started up the engine again and said, "Its okay guys were fine, I fixed it." The propeller *grinding* against the rocks that the boat was literally sitting on told us that that was not entirely accurate. Then with a faint funky electrical odor and one final grind against the rocks, the propeller stopped, telling us all we needed to know. So were a boat full of 22 people, drifting slowly away from the dock and toward the rock overhang that faces. The passengers on my side of the boat had to constantly push ourselves away from the overhang, so as to avoid whats known (scientifically) as a busted noggin. The tour guide had literally no idea what to do. We were drifting further and further from the dock, and at this point Im ready to just jump out of the damn boat and walk to the dock. (Yes, the imminently knowledgeable tour guide assured us, it really is that shallow.) Just as I was ready to abandon ship, another tour guide popped up and just managed to grab the boat with help from a passenger who tossed him the docking chain. I was super spooked, and the S/O was pretty upset, so we bailed, quickly. Bad timing, bad luck, insufficient training...whatever ya wanna call it, our experience at Lost River Cave wasnt great. Helluva gift shop though, and they didnt give us a hard time about the refund.

Chasity Hall

While it is very nice to have a cave that you can view and tour, the tour was SUPER short and not worth the amount of money paid! The tour guide was great and all staff members were very nice (the only positive). We purchased the kid combo where they got a ticket to do the boat tour and a bag of dirt to sift thru and find jewels. The jewel bags were pretty cool actually (positive). BUT the kids wanted more and we noticed on the brochure that a fossil bag was offered. Went to the gift shop and saw that the fossil bag was larger than the jewel bag and thought that was worth the increase ($6.95 for small jewel bag, $11.95 for fossil bag). The fossil bag was a RIP OFF! Shells I could find in a creek and about 10 shark teeth (that could be purchased MUCH cheaper at a gift shop in Florida). The kids probably got 30 jewels in their jewel bag ranging from really large to pebble size. The fossil bag, maybe 1 large "shell" which broke very easily and multiple shark teeth and some things that didnt match the brochure guide to match what was in your bag. If you visit - you will be excited with the majority of their gift shop item prices as they are very reasonable for places like this. Just dont expect much from the boat ride or the fossil bags!

Jillian Miller

Our family was on a weekend get away and we came across this place on our way home. I am so glad!! Not only did our children enjoy the lost cave, my husband and I actually had a great time too. We would actually go back even without our children! Its not always easy to find an attraction that an entire family can actually enjoy with the age range. It was very affordable and the lost of admission goes 100% to a non profit which helps with maintaining this beautiful site as well as conserving and protecting this place. The entire staff was there by volunteering and they were very knowledgeable. It was obvious how devoted these volunteers are to this site and the love and passion really shines through!

Jacob Blumberg

Fun Tour, We where staying in Nashville and saw a flyer in our hotel for this. So we drove a hour and had a pretty good time. One thing to note, is the "river" is pretty small its only maybe the length of 2-3 football fields if that. I think it goes further down but there was a dam that we stooped at. You really want to be careful in the beginning to bend down as much as you can since the entrance is really small. The tour guy was good, but there really wasnt much to say it pretty much just a cave with a lot of made up stories around it. It was a nice area to spend the day. I would recommend it. BTW there are a bunch of poke-stops here.

Carla Reynolds

We drove 2 1/2 hours to get there in 3 cars with family from out of state, waited 2 hrs for the tour not on the boat a few minutes when motor fell off the boat. They proceeded to take us back to dock told us we could go back to front desk and get in line for another tour or get our money back. While we were unloading they started changing motor ( which problay took 5 min) to load the next crew instead of just changing the motor and taking us back out. Was not at all professional or curtious about the situation. We were all very excited to spend the time doing this, even with the 2 hour wait only to be dissapointed with how it turned out.

T Highlen

We could not have been more pleased. Chase was a wonderful tour guide and gave an excellent explanation of the history of the Kentucky cave system. All the staff were very friendly and helpful. We bought several items in the beautifully decorated and well-stocked gift shop - that supports the beautiful grounds.. We had a lot of fun on the tour, It has wonderfully scenic walking trails and grounds. My family has some extra special keepsakes found during sluicing. It was a wonderful time, not too expensive. Everyone was great that we encountered during our visit. We highly recommend Kentucky boat tour at lost River Cave.

Yancey King

This was a wonderful experience!!! Beautiful shaded trails, a butterfly habitat, a very creative and unique, large play area for younger kids and to too it all off, a RIVER TOUR THROUGH A CAVE?!?!? The tour guides were not only very informative and fun, but polite and kind as well! I took my mother and 3 year old daughter (my daughter is very much into rocks. She had a blast with everything and did very well on the River cruise as well). The park is not government funded but is maintained by a local group. The ticket sales for the River tour go to help fund the area so everyone can continue to enjoy it :)