We're learning more about how the shutdown is impacting tourism and Kentucky's Cave Island region.

Mammoth Cave National Park is closed, which creates both hardship and opportunity for other attractions in the area.

Our Laura Rogers takes us to Hart County.

That's like taller a lot of people in the world, especially in the United States, make their vacation plans around national parks.

But those plans have been disrupted for travelers this October.

You hate to lose a major attraction for a long period of time.

Other tourist attractions are making the best of it.

This has been probably the best October we've ever had.

It couldn't have come at a better time for hidden River cave, which was closed due to flooding nearly 50 days back in the spring.

The hard part was we lost all of spring break.

When you've gone through a long winter, we're not a lot of tourists.

Spring breaks when you finally start paying the bills.

They're one of several show caves in the area hosting guests looking for alternate plans when they realize Mammoth Cave is closed.

We're getting a lot of customers that we wouldn't normally be getting.

We set up there, took our brochures there.

Sandra Wilson is executive director of Horse Cave Heart County Tourism, which has a presence on the grounds at Mammoth Cave.

We were, as far as we know, the first in the nation group of our kind to be able to sign a contract with the federal government to have a traveler info center inside a visitor center in a national park.

That's been especially helpful in times such as these to assist tourists disappointed to learn their cave tours has been canceled.

Thousands every day from all over the United States and outside the country.

I would say probably 90% of them walked up with no clue.

They're not able to even put on their website that tours have been canceled.

The good news is, as of Saturday, there are some self-guided tours now open.

It was actually wrapped around the building for people getting into the visitor center to get tickets to go.

Friends of Mammoth Cave is raising private donations and budgeting some of their own funds to make those tours happen.

There's so many people coming from out of the state that are unaware that it has been affected by the shutdown, because other national parks are wide open.

Smith says parks like Yellowstone and the Great Smoky Mountains are open, with local and state funding and support from friends and other fundraising groups.

Even though our friends organization has been around for 24 years, we do not have the budget that they have.

It's fall break, so people are traveling through.

David Foster says he recently traveled out west for the National Caving Karst Management Symposium.

Usually there's representation from U.S.

government agencies, people that are managing caves on federal lands, and they come to interact with the scientists in the in the private cave owners.

And it's a great synergy.

But we lost a lot of that this year because those folks couldn't even come.

We're not sure how long this shutdown will last, but until it reopens, the community is pulling together to show support.

However it can't.

We just try to give them as good of tours and get.

And I think they go away feeling like Kentucky is a friendly place and we're we're taking care of them.

For Kentucky Edition.

I'm Laura Rogers.

Thank you Laura.

We did reach out to the National Park Service about current operations.

They tell us critical services pertaining to law enforcement, emergency response, fire management and visitor safety continue to be staffed.

Most trails and rivers at Mammoth Cave are also still open.