Mammoth Cave National Park, Mammoth Cave KY

 

Mammoth Cave National Park


 After leaving Big Bone Lick State Park we traveled 4 hours south to Mammoth Cave KY.  Now I know most people have seen the inside of a cave but this cave is over 400 miles in length!  This is one of the most massive caves ever found and it is still being explored.  This was a National Park and it was a guided tour given by a park ranger.  It was really cool to have the kids experience this cave tour.  They have never seen anything like this before so they were pretty excited to get into the cave and see what it was all about.
The cave was so cool.  It apparently was found by a local man who laid claim to it in the early 1920's.

Epic stalactite formation

 He used the cave as a tourist attraction up until the time the Park Service came in and took the land over.  Yeah! Thank you government!


Interesting fact, the stalactites and stalagmites take 100 years to grow 1 inch! 

The most interesting part of the tour was when the park ranger took his flashlight and shined it on the ceiling to reveal hundreds of cave crickets hanging on the ceiling! It looked like something our of horror flick and it really freaked Rory and Alli out.  Owen wanted to catch one, Sophia didn't have a clue and Ethan was trying to get away.  Apparently since the cave is dark, (completely dark), they respond to sound.  Once one responds then they communicate to each other and pretty soon a whole bunch of them are coming at ya!   Can you imagine yelling in the cave and having hundreds of voracious cave crickets coming to rip your face off?  Yeah me either......(they didn't really attack us but they do use this sense for direction!)

Cave entrance, pretty ho-hum! 

Frozen Niagara

The entrance was kind of ho-hum but it soon opened up in a labyrinth of extraordinary stalactites and stalagmites.  Some  of the areas of the cave were up to 80 feet high and made up really cool experiences to see.  One particular area was called frozen Niagara.  It resembled Niagara falls frozen.  Another area was called the drapery room because well it looked like drapes hanging off the wall. The tour concluded by the Park Ranger turning off all the lights and the group staying quiet.  Let me just say, I don't ever want to get lost in a cave with no light.  It is literally as dark as dark can get.  It kind of made me think of hell because it is without light and boy was this cave not letting light in.  We ended our trip riding back in the park service bus that smelled like a cross between burnt tacos and sweaty dog.  All in all we had so much fun visiting this really cool park.  I would really like to encourage you to visit this cave if you have a chance!

burnt taco, sweaty dog bus