Today was spent touring Mammoth Caves. We reviewed the tours and information the night before. We decided on the New Entrance Tour, the Historic Tour, and a free ranger walk called Ridge to River.
I got up early and went to the Visitor's Center to get tickets for our tours. I was there early enough that we had our pick of tours. We had the 11:30 New Entrance Tour, 2:30 Historic Tour and the Ridge to River walk was at 4:45. A full day of tours.
After breakfast we headed to our first tour. While we were waiting for tour Sam noticed another pumper. We rode the bus for 10 minutes to the New Entrance starting point. The New Entrance was new as of the 1920s. It's the oldest of the new entrances. The new entrance tour goes down a lot of stairs and opens into several large rooms; rooms larger than I've seen on other cave tours. Mammoth Cave is a dry cave. There is not much moisture in the cave due to the sandstone cap over the ridge. We'll learn more about that on the Ridge to River walk.
The end of the New Entrance tour is near the edge of the cave so there are some cave formations in a room together, including a formation called "Frozen Niagara."
After the New Entrance we went back to camp for a quick lunch. Then back to Visitor's Center for the Historic Tour.
The Historic Tour entrance is near the Visitor's Center. You can feel the cold air as you get closer to the entrance. As we started on the Historic Tour there was a bit of communication between the rangers. One ranger at the front and one at the back. The ranger at the back was escorting someone out of the cave and had appointed someone else to be the caboose.
It turns out, that another diabetic was feeling low as the tour began and felt that he could not continue. Sam was standing near them and asked if he wanted some lifesavers. He took a few, but felt that he should not continue. The ranger appointed Sam as the caboose and escorted him out of the cave. Sam probably saved his life or at least a lot of embarrassing commotion. The ranger later caught up and rejoined the tour.
The Historic Tour was amazing. I thought the rooms in the New Entrance Tour were large. The path ways on the Historic Tour are gigantic tunnels 50-60 feet high and at least that wide, that go on for miles. The rooms are larger than most buildings.
There are many historic artifacts on the Historic Tour. The cave was a salt peter mine during the early wars and much of that evidence is left in the cave.
Eventually we get to a spot where the paths get much smaller. We travelled down some crevasses and eventually to Fat Man's Misery and Tall Man's Agony. Near the end of these paths is the highlight of the tour, Mammoth Dome. Mammoth Dome is 150 foot tall dome. We walked up a stair case to the top and out of the cave.
Aftter the Historic Tour we headed back to camp to quickly pick up water bottles and get a quick snack, then back to the Visitor's Center for the Ridge to River walk.
One of the rangers that was on the Historic Tour gave the Ridge to River walk. He explained how Mammoth Cave came to be. There are several factors that made it possible: sandstone cap, limestone beneath, underground rivers, and lots of time. The rivers carve out the limestone beneath the sandstone. The giant corridors are the result of the same affect as a river carving out a valley. The river moves slowly and eats away at the limestone. Other areas that are smaller were completely filled with water while eating away the limestone.
After the Ridge to River walk we headed back to camp for some dinner. After dinner we went to the camp fire for a short talk on cave creatures called "Big, Small, and Really Small". It was a fascinating talk about the creatures that live in the cave and how they have adapted.
Finally, it was time for bed.
Tomorrow we leave Mammoth Cave and Kentucky and head to Arkansas.
