We chose to do a cave tour in the heat of the day so we got on our bikes to explore the area this morning. Our first trek led us down hill to the Green River Ferry Crossing. I did say DOWN hill, which means we have a long slog UP hill to get back to the park visitor center. We started down another road but realized it, too, was down hill so we turned around, quickly! A quick exploration of the remainder of the main area of the park and then back to the RV. I fixed a picnic lunch and then we got into the Jeep and drove to the ferry crossing. Its much easier to drive than to bike!
We crossed the rive and found a one lane gravel road that went into the forest. We stopped at an old cemetery where more recent burials have happened but there is evidence of graves from the late 1800’s.
After lunch we took our first cave tour. Mammoth Cave is the longest cave in the US with 405 miles of explored passages. It’s first inhabitants were the pre-historic native Americans. Then in the early 1800’s it was again discovered. During the War of 1812 it was mined for saltpeter and was used as a sanitarium for TB patients (didn’t work), and mined for gypsum but it’s importance is as a tourist attraction. Tours have been given for 200 years, it has been a part of the National Park System for 75 years and the National Park is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year! Its first tour guides were slaves enlisted for this service and one of its most prominent explorers was a black guide, Stephen Bishop.
We walked 2 miles with 120 of our new friends. We saw the rotunda, walked across the Bottomless Pit, squeezed through the Fat Man’s Misery and climbed 155 steps up the Mammoth Dome. It is a very dry cave but one spot where the water dripped through is called the Butterscotch Sundae. It’s dry because it has a sandstone cap covered with forest. The Dome was formed when that cap collapsed and caused a sink home. More tomorrow.
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