#9 of 30 sights in Mammoth Cave
Sight · Mammoth Cave National Park
Nearly 300 stairs lead into a forested sinkhole.
Overview
Cedar Sink is a large, steep-walled sinkhole in Mammoth Cave National Park, reached by a short forest walk and a long stair descent. It gives you an up-close look at the rock-and-water landscape that continues underground through the cave system. If geology or wildflowers are your thing, keep this stop in the plan; the climb back out is the tradeoff.
Parkwolf’s verdictA sinkhole worth climbing down toMap
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Mammoth Cave Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Mammoth Cave National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this place
Cedar Sink“Cedar Sink trailhead is coming up, for a walk into a steep-walled limestone hollow. Allow an hour to ninety minutes for the full one point six mile outing, with nearly three hundred steps in total.”
Plays as you drive up to Cedar Sink in the Parkwolf Mammoth Cave Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
The signed trail is an approximately one-mile loop. The first three-quarters of a mile rolls through the forest on dirt, then stairs drop about 150 feet into the sink. You climb about the same height back out, with 295 steps total. The park estimates 45 to 60 minutes, and the path at the bottom is flatter and more stable than the stair sections. This is a short walk by distance, but it isn't accessible to everyone. Trailhead parking can fill when visitation is high. Dogs are allowed on leashes no longer than six feet.
The limestone under this part of Kentucky began as sediment on a shallow sea floor about 350 million years ago. Rainwater slowly dissolves the rock and opens underground drainage routes. Cedar Sink is a karst window into that hidden system, and the bowl likely formed when limestone collapsed above a cave.
Water can emerge from beneath one wall, cross the sink floor and disappear below the opposite bluff. The flow varies with rainfall, so you might see a green pool or a short stream, or find the channel dry. Either way, the exposed walls make the shape of the sink easy to read from below.
From inside the sink, frame the limestone wall with some of the floor or stream below it. That gives the picture a sense of the drop. If the water is low, let the layered cliff carry the frame instead, and stay on the developed trail and away from the sink edge.
Wildlife
228 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
23 sightingsTricolored BatMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
75 sightingsCave SalamanderMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
151 sightingsWild TurkeyMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
13 sightingsBarred OwlMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
40 sightingsSnapping TurtleMost seen around 11 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Mammoth Cave. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ModerateCedar Sink Trail1.6 mi · 1.3 hr · 0.6 mi awayA sinkhole walk with a rare glimpse of an underground river.
ModerateTurnhole Bend Nature Trail0.5 mi · 36 min · 1 mi awayA short wooded loop with a sinkhole deck and Green River views.
EasySloan's Crossing Pond Walk0.4 mi · 15 min · 3.1 mi awayAn easy boardwalk loop around a wildlife-rich pond.
EasyEcho River Springs Loop Trail0.7 mi · 45 min · 3.2 mi awayA short, level loop with two spring-side viewing platforms.
ModerateDry Prong Trail2.4 mi · 1.5 hr · 3.4 mi awayA rough connector best folded into a longer backcountry hike.
ModerateTurnhole Bend Trail1.8 mi · 1 hr · 3.4 mi awayA backcountry camp route with one steep ravine at the end.
ModerateRiver Valley Trail0.3 mi · 10 min · 3.5 mi awayA short connector climbs past a CCC-era stone chlorinator house
EasyTwo Springs Trail0.6 mi · 30 min · 3.7 mi awayA short, steep link between two springs fed by the cave.Sight · 1.1 mi awayTurnhole Bend OverlookA half-mile loop pairs sinkhole geology with a riverboat-era story.
Sight · 1.4 mi awayJoppa Missionary Baptist Church & CemeteryA surviving trace of the communities that became the park.
Sight · 3.1 mi awaySloan’s Crossing PondAn easy boardwalk loop for pond wildlife and a quick picnic stop.
Sight · 3.1 mi awayGreen River FerryA 1934 ferry crossing with a one-mile accessible woodland loop.
Sight · 3.2 mi awayEcho River SpringSee the underground river emerge at a forested spring.
Sight · 3.5 mi awayDoyel Valley OverlookA quick pull-off for a rare look across wooded valleys.Sight · 3.7 mi awayRiver Styx SpringA short walk to see cave water emerge at the surface.
Sight · 3.7 mi awaySunset PointAn easy, accessible trail opens onto the Green River valley.Parkwolf’s Mammoth Cave ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
