We moved to Singing Hills RV Park in Cave City, a pleasant little rural park, very convenient to visit Mammoth Cave. Besides, it's an Escapees 50% off park, which means we pay only $14 a day, with hookups.
After lunch we went over to the Visitor Center to get tickets for the two tours we wanted to do. The Historic Tour was today at 2:00 p.m., and the New Entrance Tour is tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Each is about 2 hours. We had some time before our tour began, so we hiked one of the short trails near the Visitor Center.
Now, that's what we call a trail....Walking into Mammoth Cave through the Historic Entrance into the giant Rotunda Room, even with 100 other people, is an awe-inspiring experience. The cave is very different from Kartchner Caverns, the last cave we visited. It is extremely extensive and has been open to visitors for nearly 200 years. Some efforts are being made now to restore the cave ecosystem to encourage the bat population, but the encroachments of people on the cave are clear. Remnants of the saltpeter mining operation, developed mainly to provide gunpowder for the War of 1812,are especially evident in the big entrance room. Other signs of human passage can be found deeper in the cave, including some from native Americans who explored the cave 4000 years ago and some more recent, like the initials and names lettered on the rock by soot and carving.
 Black letters created by soot from oil lamps or candles |  Bottomless hole? |
During the course of the tour, we walked through large open rooms, up and down many steps, through low passageways that require bending over, and through "Fat Man's Misery," a section of very narrow passageway that forces you to turn sideways to slide through. Our tour-guide ranger joked that some, like him, being a bit larger would polish the rocks more on their way through.
We're looking forward to another tour in the morning.
0 comments:
Post a Comment