Mammoth Cave: One of the Most Beautiful in Our National Park System

Directly south of Louisville, just off Interstate 65 and not far from Cave City, Mammoth Cave National Park sits nestled in the rolling, wooded hills of west-central Kentucky. Cedar trees dominate the landscape around the park, broken only by grazing cattle, small tobacco fields, and immense limestone outcroppings.

cave story

Limestone is what makes this area special--a 600-foot thick slab of the stuff. Looking at the many road-cuts along the highway, one can see the layers, each possessing its own characteristics and each named after the location where these characteristics were identified: St. Genevieve, St. Louis, Paoli, Aux Vases, Karnak. Each layer is incredibly older than its sibling just above. And limestone is where Kentucky caves are formed.

Cave

Once inside the park, the scenery changes from touristy to natural beauty. Well-groomed roads with wide, grassy shoulders wind through deep forest. Whitetail deer browse the edges of ancient cemeteries and wild turkey are everywhere. Mammoth Cave is one of the most beautiful in our national park system. Sprawling over more than 52,000 acres (most of it dense hardwood forest) the park features a diverse community of plants and wildlife; from the smallest insects, to birds, to aquatic life, to cave life. It is home to dozens of endangered or threatened species.

In spite of hosting two million visitors a year, the roads through Mammoth Cave National Park are surprisingly free of traffic. But near the visitor center, there is a constant bustle of activity, where campers, picnickers, and cave tourists crowd through the visitor center and ticket office. Every few minutes, loudspeakers announce the beginning of the next tour and groups of strangers form lines to become fellow travelers through a section of the cave.

During the summer, the park offers tours into several different entrances and family groups huddle around descriptive signs planning this portion of their summer vacation. The most popular is the Historic Tour. Starting every 40 minutes, over a hundred people herd through the historic section of the cave. The Lantern Tour, Frozen Niagara, and Half-Day tours are sold out every day throughout the tourist season. Occasionally the park gives tours into Great Onyx Cave, but those arriving too late in the day, or those that choose not to go on a guided tour can opt for the Discovery tour -- a self guided walk through the historic section near the entrance.

Of the hundreds of caves that pock the hills and valleys of the park, many are worthy of the tourist dollar. Crystal Cave, Colossal, Bedquilt, Lee, White, and others--now, all gated. The park no longer shows these caves. And when hiking the 73 miles of surface trails in the park, one must be mindful to stay on the established trails. Poking around in one of the little caves along the way is strictly forbidden. There are plenty of tours to keep even the most adventurous of tourists busy.

Of all the parks protected by our national park system, Mammoth Cave is certainly one of the most beautiful and one of the most popular. A great vacation destination.

Mammoth Cave: One of the Most Beautiful in Our National Park System

Cave

Mammoth Cave - So Interesting Some Never Leave

Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system in the world, consists of 367 miles of passage ways with more being discovered all the time. The cave system is actually many cave systems that connect at some point underground. Among the attractions of these cave system are limestones riddled with crinoid, blastoid, gastropod, and shark teeth, and other Mississippian fossils. Satan spar gypsum, calcite, mirabilite, aragonite, nitratine, and other mineral deposits lie within the labyrinth of tunnels. A myriad life forms roam in and around the caves. The most mysterious of the features of the Mammoth cave systems are the ghosts that roam the sinuous passages and caverns.

cavenders

Some parts of the caves have been used for burial by cultures that inhabited the area up to 12,000 years ago. The bodies of many early explorers have also been found within the depths of the cave systems. Modern history of the cave extends from the late 1700's to the present. It is a history of dangerous exploration, mining, war, and tourism. It is also a history of strange and haunted events. While some reports of strange noises, footsteps, weird lights, and apparitions can be explained as natural effects of the dark corridors and caverns, some defy such explanations.

Cave

Guides have reported happenings such as seeing figures lingering away from others in tours, sometimes in the dress of era's past. These apparitions vanish, sometimes right before spectators eyes. Others report feeling others touch or push them when no one is near enough to have done so. Not all ghosts roaming the caves are unrecognized.

One haunting that has been reported repeatedly is thought to be the ghost of a woman who had vengefully played a trick on the man she loved by leading him into the cave, which she was familiar with, and leaving him there. When the gentleman failed to return to the surface again her guilt drove her back into the cave in search of him. She never found him and continues to this day to search for the man. Many guides and visitors to the cave have claimed to hear her in her search.

Another haunting has been recognizable as famous explorer Floyd Collins who died in Sand Cave in 1925. He was exploring the cave to find the linking passage to Mammoth cave when he was pinned by a falling rock. After weeks of a well publicized attempt to save him, a further collapse sealed him off. When workers were able to dig through Collins had already perished. Rather than being buried, his body was put on display in a glass topped coffin in Crystal Caves from which the body was stolen. He was recovered not far from the caves but was missing a leg. Finally his ordeal was over and he received a normal burial in a local cemetery. It seems that the explorer was not ready to leave his beloved cave systems, however. Many guides, tourists, and explorers have heard and seen his ghosts roaming the corridors and calling out from the darkness.

If you visit Mammoth caves you will find much of interest to nature lovers of all sorts. If you stop to talk to someone who seems to be hanging back away from the group, however, and they disappear before your eyes, don't be too surprised. Hauntings have become just one more interesting phenomena of the Mammoth Cave systems.

Mammoth Cave - So Interesting Some Never Leave

Cave

Kentucky - Mammoth Cave National Park

If you thought Carlsbad Caves were fascinating, you will find the Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky is truly awe inspiring. The Mammoth caves are the longest cave system in the world and needless to say are the most prominent feature of the park.

cave

The caves are known for their limestone and sandstone formations. The park service organizes several guided tours of different parts of the caves. Most of these tours are moderately challenging in nature, thanks to the rough terrain of the caves. The most popular tours are the ones that take visitors to the cave's most well known features- Fat man's misery and Frozen Niagara. In case you are in a more adventurous mood, you can take 'wild tours' to the caves' relatively unexplored areas.

Cave

Apart from the caves, the park has several other attractions as well. These include-

The Big Woods- These woods offer a glimpse of the old Kentucky forests.

The Green River Bluffs- As the name suggests, the bluff promises amazing views of the Green River valley.

River Styx Spring-The spring flows from the cave and merges into the Green River.

Engine No.4- This is the workhouse of the old Mammoth Cave railroad.

The Cedar Sink- This is a stunning downhill trail adorned with vividly colored wildflowers (in springs), sparkling streams, that leads into a huge sinkhole.

The Green and Nolin Rivers that flow through the park, promise excellent recreation opportunities like kayaking, canoeing, fishing, swimming and riverside camping. The rivers' slow current, dramatic bluffs, lush green banks, sandbars, little islands and subsurface springs make canoeing and kayaking extremely pleasant. As you paddle lazily through these gorgeous rivers you may even be able to catch glimpses of the park's varied wildlife. To fish within the park's premises you do not need a state fishing license. Apart from the two rivers you can also go fishing at the Sloan's Crossing Pond and the First Creek Lake.

If you want to camp on the flood plains you will need to obtain a free back-country use permit. The park also offers a designated camping area along with the river bank-Houchins Ferry Campground. This ground is fairly well equipped and works on a first come first sever basis only. Apart from Houchins Ferry Campground the park has two more well equipped designated camping areas-The Mammoth Cave and The Maple Springs campgrounds.

With so much on offer, you will definitely make some wonderful memories on your Mammoth cave vacation!

Kentucky - Mammoth Cave National Park

Cave

Mammoth Cave, Kentucky - World's Longest Cave

Drove to Mammoth Cave, We are staying at Diamond Caves Resort. Our campsite abuts up to Mammoth Cave National Park. The resort has a nice workout room and Jacuzzi, which we tried.

caverta

Drove the seven miles to the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center to check out the available tours. We signed up for the Star Chamber Tour the next afternoon. I wanted to go on the Wild Cave Tour, a six-hour adventure, but the only tour of the week was already full. Too bad.

Cave

Took the Star Chamber Tour. Mammoth Cave is the longest cave in the world, 300+ miles on five levels, which have been explored so far. The cave is still alive on the lowest level where the Green River and its tributaries continue to erode away the limestone. The cave remains at 54 degrees as a constant temperature. On the tour we saw the mining operation from 1812 with the wood and artifacts still intact (no decaying in the cave). We saw the Tuberculosis Huts, which was an experiment of Dr John Croghan in the 1840s, where the patients lived for up to six months in the cave.

The Star Chamber is names for the pieces of gypsum knocked off the soot covered ceiling, causing it to look like a starry sky. The guides also turn off all the lights for a couple of minutes to give the visitor the experience of total darkness. All of these sights were on level two of the cave. We then went to level one, where the earliest tours were conducted in the 1820-40s. The tourists paid the guides to write their names on the ceiling using the smoke from candles. The same names are repeated many times. It seems that the caves had many returning customers. Along the passageway are monuments or cairns of stones placed on top of each other. These too were built for the tourists who visited here.

Mammoth Cave, Kentucky - World's Longest Cave

Cave