SHOSHONE, Idaho — With temperatures heating up and school coming to an end, Idahoans across the state will be hitting the road looking for that next family adventure — and this one takes you underground.
Located along Highway 75, 8 miles north of Shoshone, Mammoth Cave has a history that stretches back more than 70 years.
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As a senior in high school, Richard Olsen stumbled across the cave while hunting coyotes and bobcats, and from that point on, Mammoth Cave was his.
Charles Drake, the site's manager, said the property has been welcoming visitors for decades.
"Richard found the place in 1954 and homesteaded the land...and we've been doing tours out here since the early 60's," Drake recounted.
Before visitors even make their way to the cave, they are greeted by the Richard Olsen and Shoshone Bird Museum — a sprawling collection of taxidermy, prehistoric artifacts, and curiosities from around the world that Olsen spent a lifetime assembling.
"A little bit of everything... Richard spent his entire life traveling, hunting, fishing all over the world, and his life passion was bringing the world back to Idaho," Drake added.
The museum is enough to keep visitors busy for hours, and the property's free-range peacocks are sure to keep them on their toes.
"Yeah, we have about 40 or 50 free-range peacocks... we have them because they are really aggressive to rattlesnakes, they make it a little safer out here, and they are really great at taking care of ticks," Drake said.
The main attraction, however, is Mammoth Cave itself.
"It's one of the largest volcanic tubes open to the public in the world. Goes for a quarter of a mile long because it is self-guided out here, you can spend as much time as you like down there, but on average it is usually done in about 30-40 minutes," Drake explained.
The cave briefly served as a fallout shelter during the Cold War and remains structurally solid today, though Drake acknowledged its limitations in a modern context.
"It could still provide shelter today for a lot of things... but nuclear holocaust?... Probably not," Drake said.
Mammoth Cave and the museums are located along Highway 75, north of Shoshone, and are open 7 days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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