Cave Tours in Kentucky

October 26, 2013

This morning we headed over to Mammoth Caves National Park to take one of their cave tours.  Before we reached the Visitor Centre, we spotted a deer feeding on the lawn.

Doe munching on the frosty grass.

We don't have a photo but the grass was all white. Not sure how they do that here at Mammoth National Park but I suspect it may have been the sub-freezing temperature.

We arrive at about 9:00 AM for a 9:30 tour only to find that we are now in the Central Time Zone. That sure does answer to why there is so few cars in the parking lot. The place isn't open yet. Oops... we have some time to kill.

The "New Entrance" is really a door into the hill!

We used our Golden Years discount which gives us 50% off at all National Parks.  We took the New Entrance tour which was 2 hours long.  This cave tour visited only 3/4 of a mile of the 400 mile cave system but involved going up and down 500 stairs. We descended  250 ft. The cave area we visited was not as spectacular as other caves we have visited over the years but the rock formations were still interesting plus we learned more details about the cave systems and sink holes in Kentucky. This whole area of the country is rife with caves but Mammoth is the grandaddy of the whole world. We saw only a small snippet of the cave system here and it is still being explored so the 400 mile tally will increase for sure. It is interesting that all the exploration is done by volunteers who do all the work on weekends. Even the warden who work in the park and do exploration must do it on their own time as volunteers!

We did not have to traverse the entire cave system to find what it was like. During one of the talk sessions in a large chamber, the warden turned off all the lights for a total lack of light experience. She then said that this is what it is like in all the rest of the cave system. No need to go any further!

Bev's version of spelunking...the easy way with stairs and railings.

In the afternoon we visited the private Diamond Caverns near Park City.  This cave system was small at only 1/2 mile long with 350 stairs but during the one hour tour we saw some very unusual rock formations plus many stalactites, stalagmites, flows, etc.

Stalagmite in Diamond Caverns.

Bev poses with a "Column" in Background. Stalactite meets stalagmite.

Lots of formations here millions of years old.

A stalactite cut through and polished to show the interior.

Interesting contrasts in this chamber ceiling.

They call this formation "bacon".

Tomorrow will be a day of rest and fixing little things like a dripping water filter. We hit the road again on Monday, cross the Mighty Mississippi River and should end up west of Memphis or maybe even Little Rock. Warmer weather is waiting there for us.