You can’t live in Kentucky and not visit Mammoth Cave at least once. It took us almost two years to finally make the 2.5-hour drive to the park since there always seemed to be something else that took our time away from sightseeing. Besides, the oppressive heat and humidity that descended upon Kentucky this summer made outdoor activities rather unappealing. Taking advantage of an early September cool snap, we jumped in the truck and headed west for the kids’ first-ever visit to this natural wonder.
The entrance to Mammoth Cave
Years and years ago I had visited the cave as a kid with my parents, but I was at such a young age that very little about that trip remains with me today. I again spent a day exploring there when Cheryl and I spent a night in Cave City on our honeymoon drive from Michigan to Texas. As you can imagine, much has changed from our visit 20 years ago. Besides many of the “tourist trap” attractions being shuttered and abandoned, (check out a great blog post on this topic at The Decorologist) the way the cave system is presented has undergone a considerable revision. When Cheryl and I were there before, the park offered two basic tours – a full day tour and a half day tour. Being young and adventurous, we opted for the full day tour and after a very exciting day below ground we returned to our hotel worn and weary. These days, however, the Park Service has chopped those basic tours into a series of varying-length excursions which, unfortunately, make it impossible to see “everything” like we’d been able to before. Not only that, but some very cool areas of the cave system are now off-limits. The nifty Echo River boat tour is one example. Weighing our options, it was clear that multiple visits to Mammoth Cave are required to get the full experience, so we chose to begin with the basic 2-hour Historic Tour. Some of the key attractions, such as Fat Man’s Misery and the Historic Entrance are seen so the tour gives a pretty good bang for the buck.
Butterscotch Falls. There are no stalactites/gmites in the cave, but this mineral deposit comes close.
The first thing you notice when preparing to descend into the cave, especially on hot and muggy days, is the chilling blast of natural air conditioning that greats you from the natural cave entrance. The air temperature in the cave is a steady 58 degrees, and the various fissures which lead into the system create a sort of wind tunnel which is often shrouded in mist where the cool, dry air meats the warm, moist air of the surface.
Once inside the cave, one of the reasons behind its name is immediately evident. These initial chambers are truly mammoth. My camera doesn’t perform very well in near-zero lighting, so I have no photographic evidence to present of the truly grand spaces that make up the first several hundred feet of the system. As you can see below, however, I was able to get some shots of the remnants of the saltpeter operations that pre-date the War of 1812. Yes, those planks are over 200 years old and are perfectly preserved!
Well-preserved saltpeter mining operation.
Our next stop was the Giant’s Coffin, the reasons for it name obvious once you see it. Tourists have been coming to the caves since the mid-1800′s and, before strict rules were in place, left their graffiti on nearly every exposed and reachable surface. You can see one of the names in the picture below, but there’s no way to get a good look at the thousands of overlapping names and dates without experiencing it in person. Yes, it takes away from the natural beauty of the caves but it’s pretty interesting to read an intricately carved name with a 19th-century date next to it.
Giant's Coffin
A neat highlight of the tour is Fat Man’s Misery, probably one of the best-known areas of the cave. The name isn’t entirely accurate, however, because skinny people over 4′ tall have a bit of a rough time as well. I navigated most of it using a truly embarrassing duck/crab hybrid style of walking.
Navigating Fat Man's Misery
Very narrow path
All-in-all there was plenty to see during our short tour, including a candle-lit story of revenge (but I’ll let you experience the details of that story on your own visit). The only complaint I have is about the size of the tour groups and the pace. When we last visited, groups were of no more than 40 people and were somewhat intimate, providing a lot of interaction with the tour guides. These days, groups of 150 people are the norm and the guides only stop at a handful of spots for brief, and often too quiet, tidbits of cave history and information. Not all tour routes host that large of a group, so maybe some of the other tours will be more informative.
What I look like when I see a ghost, or when a camera flashes in the utter blackness of a cave
After leaving the park and a stop at Big Mike’s Rock Shop (the self-proclaimed largest gift shop in Kentucky), we headed in to Cave City to do some antiquing. Even though the temperature only made it into the mid-80′s, after spending a couple of hours in the cave’s cool, dry air had us really hating the heavy humidity. Most of the shops in Cave City had no air conditioning, so it was kind of a miserable trek through the stores and we didn’t browse as closely as we usually do. There were some interesting things that will have us going back for in cooler weather, though.
The bustling downtown of Cave City.
If you’ve never been to Mammoth Cave, you don’t know what you’re missing. Sure, it’s “a big hole in the ground”, but the history of it - and your own imagination – makes it a really spectacular place to visit.
