Mammoth Cave

Despite it's name, Mammoth Cave contains no mammoths. Mammoth merely describes it's size. The name is well placed. This cave has nearly 396 miles of cave, more than any other cave in the world.

We are currently stationed in southern Kentucky. The weather is nice here. A little hot, but that's nice compared to the freezing that has been following us for the past 6 months or so.

A few days ago we took the main tour of the cave to get our bearings a bit. Legend has it that the cave was recently discovered in 1799 by a bear hunter who shot and wounded a bear, who retreated into Mammoth Cave. The hunter followed the bear into the cave, and Mammoth Cave was discovered. When we started thee tour, we walked down 69 steps (that doesn't matter until you come back up). At first the cave doesn't appear to be anything special. I've been to Carlsbad Caverns and Lava Tubes, and those caves were pretty fantastic. Once you walk through the entrance, a large draft of cold air hits you. Air is always coming in holes at the top of the cave and coming out the entrance. The cave is at a constant 54 degrees, but at the entrance it can seem much cooler because of wind. Then, we walked inside.

The cave does not have many formations due to the average dryness. The lack of water means that there are few stalagmites or stalactites. The most impressive aspect of the cave, however, is it's size. If you have ever seen Lord of the Rings, just imagine the Mines of Moria on a slightly smaller scale. Then you have a basic idea of the size this cave.

We saw many interesting things in this cave, but unfortunately we were able to take no pictures. The cave was very dark, and despite our flash we were unable to capture many images. Here are a few of them.

Fat Man's Misery:

We didn't find this too hard. Not quite as hard as some of the low portions of the tour.

Bottomless Pit:

A see-through bridge spans this deep chasm, definitely not for the faint of heart.

Hall of Records:

This area was only covered in the lantern tour, and has tons and tons of smoke-signatures on the roof. Some visitors would pay tips to the guides for a chance to use canlde smoke to write thier name on the roof of the cave.

The main tour was nice for getting the scope of the cave, but the crowd was not as pleasant (over 120 people, a significant number of them hungry, cold, tired and thus cranky toddlers).

The tour we preferred for seeing the cave was the lantern tour. This tour takes you into a different part of the cave, is more informative, and has less people. Unfortunately, it was far too dark to be able to take any pictures, so you will just have to go and see it yourself! If you do get the chance, I would strongly recommend visiting. They also provide horseback rides and trails above ground if you prefer the warm, high and dry.

Overall, the Mammoth Cave National park is a great stop if you're in the area!