Wednesday, June 8, 2022
This morning, we struck out from the campground for Mammoth Cave National Park arriving with enough time before our scheduled tour to peruse the Visitor Center. There, through displays and a movie, we learned about the geology and history of this over 400 mile-long cave.
At 11:45, we and fellow spelunkers met at Shelter B where our guide, Ranger Ashley, cautioned us about the strenuosity of our selected tour, The Grand Avenue: the longest tour offered, a four-mile, four-hour hike, 1313 stairs, steep ascents, and steep descents. No-one in the audience was deterred (although it turned out at least one woman SHOULD have been) so Ranger Ashley then proceeded through her cave safety spiel. After our orientation, we (n~40) loaded up into two park-service-green Bluebird buses and rode to the appropriate entrance for our tour.
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| Anticipation at the Entrance |
Much of the four-mile hike along the Grand Avenue was paved and the rest of the surface was hardpack. Handrails helped on either side of the staired ascents and descents, but neither of us considered the underground hike strenuous. The first section was through broad dry tunnels with rough walls where rocks had broken off after the subterranean river had eroded to a deeper level. The flattish roof was a layer of limestone more resistant to erosion than the sandstone walls. In other sections, the walls were smooth from water erosion. These smooth walls were often covered with white crust and flower formations where gypsum had extruded from the rock. Ranger Ashley took advantage of wide rooms to gather her flock and explain more history and geology of the cave. At one point, we were forced to travel single-file through a long and narrow slot canyon. Along the way, we passed an area where a restaurant in earlier days had formerly cooked meals for visitors to enjoy on picnic tables in the cave. We also stopped twice for hikers to use the below-ground toilet facilities.
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| Ranger Ashely Guided our Tour (with Ranger Larry bringing up the Rear) |
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| Gypsum Crusts covering Wall |
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| Traversing the Grand Avenue |
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| Some of Many Steps along the Grand Avenue |
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| Marine Fossils embedded in the Cave Wall |
During the final half-hour of the tour, after miles of dry cave tunnels, we were treated to the grand finale featuring classic active wet speleothems: stalactites, stalagmites, columns, flow stones and draperies. This section was spectacular but we were soon climbing and emerged through a door into the warm humid and glasses-fogging surface air. There, in a small parking lot in the woods, our buses were waiting to drive us back to the Visitor Center. At the VC, we were required to walk across disinfectant mats to ameliorate the spread of white-nose disease among the cave’s bat population. “Squish the mats to save the bats.” Before departing, we dropped by the bathrooms and water station at the Visitor Center again.
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| Draperies, Columns and Stalactites |
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| More Draperies, Stalactites and Stalagmites |
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| “Frozen Niagara Falls” |
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| Column and Draperies |
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| More Speleothems |
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| The Modest Exit Door |
After our spelunking expedition, we drove to a nearby town, Mundfordville, ate at a Mexican restaurant, bought some medication for Jane’s malady, and went grocery shopping before returning to the campground. The combination of the strenuous cave tour and her illness took their toll on Jane who was exhausted. Once our purchases were transferred into the RV, she took some medicine and quickly went to bed.
I blogged some and then decided to take a stroll around this intriguing campground. The sites here are well-spaced out and besides the usual RV and tent sites, this campground offers cabins, tree houses, teepees, and even covered wagons for rent. After my walk, I wound up sitting under a gazebo by the office and store building reading news on my iPhone when a torrential rainstorm unexpectedly commenced. Fortunately, I stayed dry and waited out the storm before returning to our motorhome.
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| Rental Cabins |
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| Rental Treehouse |
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| Rental Teepee |
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| Rental Covered Wagons |