Mammoth Cave

2022-07-03
Mammoth Cave National Park, KY

Today was all about cave tours. Mammoth Cave is the biggest cave system in the world, and the National Park has about a dozen or so different tours. The Caves have been a national park for 70 years or so, and before that there were a number of cave tours given by, well, pretty much anyone who could. If you're thinking of getting into the cave tour business, remember that you need more than just a hole in your back yard. It turns out cave usage counts as mineral rights, so your section of the cave ends at your property line. It can lead to neighborly squabbles on a different level...

The first tour was the Great Onyx Lantern Tour. This tour is through a cave that doesn't connect with the Mammoth Cave system at all. It is also (as the name suggests) a lantern tour. This is touted as nostalgic, but you quickly learn that the cave lacks electricity so it's lanterns or nothing. They did use gas lanterns rather than electric though, so it did have a feel for what it would've been like fifty or a hundred years ago.

This tour must not be offered too regularly. I know this because the bus had to stop a few times en route so our ranger team could move branches from the path. Or maybe they drop them there after every tour to make us feel like we are doing something special?

They gave a lantern to every third or fourth person, so we teamed up with Trey and Leah from TN who were visiting the caves. Leah toted that all-important lantern, and Trey had essentially a geology degree, so he was able to supplement the information from our guide. I've often said that I would love to have a geologist on my hikes, so this was the dream. The formations in this cave were pretty. They may not be as dramatic as the "frozen Niagara" on another tour, but the combination of the lanterns and the curtains and stalagmites and stalactites was a great experience.

The afternoon tour was the River Styx tour. The river is currently making new caves at the deepest part. With rocks, the lowest is the oldest, but with caves the lowest is the newest. Well, the lack-of-rock is the newest, while the surrounding rocks are the oldest. It gets confusing. This tour is all about geology and goes past few formations. Once again, we were on the same tour as Trey and Leah so we got our bonus geology.

The tour works its way down to the lowest levels of the cave one section at a time. The lead ranger turns on the lights just before we enter the section, and the trailing ranger turns them off as we leave the section. They claim it's because they don't want to disturb the cave inhabitants, but I think the real reason is because the tour was developed by a dad. We've all heard it: "Turn off the light when you leave the room!"

Among the cool features we did see were a couple of pits and domes (which are the literally same thing; both vertical shafts, but the name changes depending on whether you are at the top or bottom). We also walked Fat Man's Misery. This is a feature that started off as a tube cut by the water, but as the water slowed it cut a canyon in the base making a keyhole-shaped passage. The whole thing is winding and twisted and was once described as "… a tortuous rift, a snake in convolution and an avenue of torture in ruggedness, narrowness, and lowness. It would perplex a groundhog." The park officials assure us that no groundhogs have been perplexed during the tour.

To get to the actual river we once again had to use lanterns because the lower section floods so it is not powered. This time the lanterns were LED's, and Valerie was the Bringer of Light. We got to see the river but unfortunately not any of the native fauna. And once you're at the bottom of the cave, there's nowhere to go but up. One stair at a time...

Hiking Distance: 8 miles

Driving distance: 0