Mammoth Cave National Park

Wed., June 21st, we left Babler State Park and headed through St. Louis and over the Mississippi River into Illinois, then Indiana, and then into Kentucky. It was very busy through St. Louis but then quieted down after that.

We traveled through more farmland (corn), cattle grazing, and we thought Kentucky was reminiscent of New England with trees on either side of the highway. Then we got off the highway and did back roads to get to our next Corp of Engineer park called Wax Campground on the Nolin River in Western Kentucky. Winding, hilly, narrow roads with a drop-off on the side. Interesting. We arrive safely at the campground, and are having a fun conversation with the Campground Host (originally from Illinois) who is checking us in. We’re commenting on the roads not being for the faint of heart. He said, “yep, in Illinois we’ve got shoulders wider than these roads.” The Host said he told the Town Sheriff, who regularly patrols the campground, that Kentucky has really good drivers. The sheriff said “what makes you say that?” The Host says because “the bad ones are all dead.” That pretty much sums it up. Also the Host told us that this is Amish and Mennonite country so after you come over that narrow, winding, hilly, road, you may just find yourself face-to-face with a horse and buggy. Marvelous. Now all of this might make one want to indulge in an adult beverage. But this is a dry county. And, the Town Sheriff, previously noted above, has been known to arrest campers for drinking. Most notably he arrested 44 campers at one time. We kept our adult beverages inside the camper.

Our Campground Host told us that we had a choice between our original site, which is a pull thru. Or there’s a back-in on the river that became available because of a cancellation. Hmmmm that sounds good. The river view is too good to pass up, so we deal with the backing in thing. Once again, takes us a few tries but we eventually get it. And, the site is totally worth the effort. Lovely. I sit on a rock and dangle my feet in the water.

Thursday, June 22nd, we head to Mammoth Cave National Park, which was the purpose of this particular stop. We have two choices for how to get there (1) drive 40 miles or (2) drive 11 miles and take a “ferry.” The Campground Host says by far the ferry is the better option. We don’t know much about the ferry just that it runs continuously all day. No reservations necessary. We drive our 25 minutes on these winding, hilly and narrow back roads (which are incredibly scenic, but have speed limits of 50 mph; these people are crazy!) to get to the ferry. We see signs that say “road ends in the water.” That’s a bit of a different sign. Sure enough. The road ends in the water. The ferry is big enough to load in two cars and crosses over a body of water that’s about as wide as a puddle. Since I knew I was taking a ferry, I took a motion sickness pill that morning because I have a notoriously weak stomach with all things motion. Hardly worth the effort of swallowing the pill based on this tiny puddle we’re crossing. We drive on the ferry, just fit since we’ve got Gary’s dually, and over we go. The gate opens in the front and we drive off. We never did see the actual driver of the ferry. Could of been an alien for all we know.

It was a rainy day on Thursday. Perfect day for checking out a cave! We had investigated online the day before what our options were for tours so we had already booked a tour. They had an interesting museum in the visitor’s center. Then after that, it was time for us to catch the buses to take the tour with 128 of our new best friends. But, first, it’s time for the Park Ranger to scare the bejeezus out of us before we board the buses. “Do you know what you’re getting into?” she says. “This is a very strenuous tour. There’s 530 stairs, which will feel like 1,000 stairs because you’re underground. If you’re at all claustrophobic, have heart trouble, are afraid of heights, this tour isn’t for you. If you have a medical emergency, it could take 12 hours to get you out.” Oh kay. But I paid my $30. All the other tours are booked now. It’s this tour or we don’t see the cave. How bad can it be???? It wasn’t that bad. I think she does that so that you’re thinking the worst. Awesome experience to be that far down in the bowels of the cave traversing in these narrow passageways and getting a real sense of what it must have been like for the cave discoverers way back when. Unfortunately, the pictures don’t do it justice since we weren’t allowed to use flash and no tripods. A remarkably unique experience.

Mammoth Cave National Park is the most extensive cave system on Earth. As of July 2015, 405 miles of passageways have been discovered. Geologists think there could still be 600 miles of undiscovered passageways still waiting to be discovered. Almost unimaginable! We could easily come back here again and take a different tour and have a different experience. The cave surfaces are all limestone except for the highest ceiling in the system, which is sandstone, and that keeps the integrity of the limestone safe.

Mammoth Cave was one of the very first attractions for American tourism. The cave predates all national parks. Publicized during the War of 1812, the “mammoth” cave of Kentucky had become an attraction by 1816. Mammoth Cave was authorized as a national park in 1926 with 40 miles of passageways that had been mapped.

A very interesting outing. After our review of the museum and our tour, we ran a couple of errands and headed back to camp via the road, rather than the ferry, for a different view.

Tomorrow we travel on to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.