June 13
We made good time getting to the park. I got the opportunity
to get the Kentucky border sign today, since yesterday it rained only as we
were passing the border sign…..Too funny, dry before and after.
We walked around inside the Visitor’s Center as they have a
nice presentation and explanation to the cave. It is the longest cave and they
have over 400 miles of explored cave with no end in sight. It was then time to
meet for our tour. We pre-booked the tour as they do often sell out. When we
arrived when it opened, there were quite a few of the tours marked sold out.
Visitor's Center
watching the intro film; the ceiling of the room simulated the cave exploration
Crazy woman that I am, I signed us up for their most
strenuous walking tour. It’s their Grand Avenue Tour. It is a distance of 4
miles over 4 hours. Definitely not a walk in the park with a total number of
stairs at nearly 700. It is rated - Very Strenuous.
“This physically demanding trip will give you an excellent
idea of the size and complexity of the Mammoth Cave System. Learn of the
cultural and natural history of the cave and how they are interwoven as your
journey takes you through some of the most dramatic passages in this
"mammoth" cave. Walk through a variety of cave as you encounter
gypsum lined passages, narrow canyons, steep underground hills, large rooms and
areas with dripstone formations.
This tour includes the entire Frozen Niagara Tour route and
all of the Domes and Dripstones Tour except for the 280 stairs descending the
vertical shafts at the entrance.”
They weren’t exaggerating, and the ranger stressed that
anyone not in good physical condition could/should not go. The first mile was
easy, the 2nd mile was moderate and the 3rd & 4th
mile were hard. There were areas where we pulled ourselves up the hill with the
hand rails and used them to help us down the walkways as well. Climbing “Mt.
McKinley” was the most difficult part. The stairs were actually the easy part
compared to the ups and downs on the walkway that was often slippery and very
hilly.
Ranger John
entrance to the cave
me going down the stairs of the cave
made years ago by candle "smoke"
Greg in the orange glow of the lighting
fallen rocks from many years ago overhead
the wet area of the cave - the only "decorated" part of the cave
frozen Niagra
frozen Niagra
water source in the ceiling of this room
It was a very different cave than Carlsbad. Much of the cave
is dry so it didn’t have the pretty dramatic stalactites & stalagmites like
Carlsbad, but it was very interesting with the formations formed by the rivers
that created the cave. Some of the areas were very narrow to go through. Of
course, it is dark in there and they light certain areas with either orange or
blue lights. The lights went out several times during the tour and we had to
stand where we were until they came back on.
There were 2 bathroom stops which were appreciated. There
were only a couple of people that were having a really hard time on the tour. I
can tell you my body found muscles it didn’t know it had the next day. It’s a
good thing that the tour ends at the hotel with the restaurants as we were
starving after the tour. I told Greg I couldn’t have done that 1 to 2 months
ago recovering from the pneumonia.
After lunch we wandered around the grounds and saw the
historic old entrance to the cave and then hiked a few of the trails before
calling it a day. Before driving the 2 hours home we of course stopped to have
ice cream at the hotel. YUM!
deer off one of the trails
Chipmunk
Historic entrance to the cave (one of the easier tours)
River Styx
Green River
Great-crested Flycatcher
Great-crested Flycatcher
Great-crested Flycatcher
There are several easy and short tours in the cave and also
the most strenuous one is a “cave crawl”. I told Greg “Scott would be on that
one”. There are also other activities during the day at no charge you can do at
specific times. We had planned to go back a second day to do the driving tour,
but it’s a long drive just to do that, so we will spend extra time in Nashville
instead.
Tomorrow, we explore Nashville!
Glad you were able to "hang" with the tour. Looked like it was challenging.
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