Mammoth Cave – OsteoPraxis on the road

We arrived at Mammoth Cave National Park with no real expectations, but it was much busier than we predicted with no tickets left for the Historic Tour on the first day we were there…so we booked what we could…which was the last slot in the afternoon of the following day. Although not terribly convenient for us, it’s great to see these sites being well appreciated.

The self guided tour has less restriction on numbers so we did it as a ‘taster’ for the ranger led tour. It turned out to be a quite magnificent experience and left us quite excited for the next day.

We took the opportunity in the morning for the Green River Bluffs above ground hike…..then munched our packed lunches and headed for the gathering point.

Really lucked out with this tour selection (being the end of the day) as there was a much smaller than usual number of people (37 instead of 110).

There was a list of dire warnings from the rangers to not go in if you had heart conditions, breathing issues, claustrophobia, fear of heights etc. Honestly…they keep you moving at a steady pace as there’s a lot of terrain to cover and the whole thing is so darn fascinating that you kinda forget how far underground you are…..

The lead Ranger stopped at this historic point to show us the ‘pictures’ on the ceiling….

There are coloured mineral patches on the ceiling that look like bears, and a grim reaper….

Maybe you have to actually be there to see it……but apparently this has been part of the tourist presentation since the very first tours in the cave back in 1816.

You really can see some pretty awesome scenes in the ‘pictures’….but maybe its a bit like staring at clouds and seeing balloon animals…LOL

The pace continues through the cave….one Ranger in the lead and one as the caboose making sure no one is left behind……we were hanging back at the rear to try to take some pictures without the whole group in them….

Deep into the cave there is lots of 1800’s graffiti. Names and dates of often slaves who were some of the first tour guides. They daubed the letters using soot from tallow candles. It’s remarkably neat.

The bottomless chasm……there is (thankfully) a rail….no I did not look down…!!!

The way they described the next part of the cave….fat mans misery…..an hourglass shaped channel through the rock…..

I was dreading just how narrow it might be…..other than the rock being a bit slimy…..it wasn’t that bad…!!!

Then ‘tall mans agony’…..a challenge on the neck creeping through…..This is where I’d expect claustrophobia to catch up with us, but you’re moving along at such a clip I think we were staying just ahead of it.

At the lowest point that the tour goes to…86M/263ft…there is a big chamber that is one of the places that fills with water after stormy weather…..the recorded flood levels had reached record highs a couple of times this year……again….it was a place you had to be standing in to really appreciate how impressive the thought of it being filled with flood water…!!!

Then we started climbing again….

to ‘the fire tower’…the rock formations here were massive…..these cone shaped vertical channels look like something out of a sci-fi movie……and the 270 stairs up had a real ‘Batman Begins’ look to them

… the long ascent up these wet and slimy (and numerous..!!) stairs….

I have to say it was almost disappointing to come to the end….it sure did not feel like 2 hours down there……

The Rangers do a great job……the lead Ranger explained at the end that they pass the stories and the histories down largely by word of mouth…the intent being to keep this Historic tour as authentic to the origins of the Mammoth tourist experince as they can.

I am still blown away by how much I/we enjoyed this experience. What started as a ‘push the comfort zone’ turned out to be a ‘so glad I did that’ life experience.

Extra Pix

Continuing north and beginning the travel westward (towards home) took us back through Kentucky, but this time on the west side of the state. We had bypassed Mammoth Cave National Park on the journey south…so we took the opportunity to visit on the return northward. As I searched the campgrounds around the area , and found a Boondockers Welcome site just 15 minutes from the park gate…… Ideal.!!

This BW host had power and water available…bonus in the warm, humid July weather in Kentucky.

Mammoth Cave NP, despite its proximity to The Great Smoky Mountains (the US’s most visited park) is one of the least visited parks. I’m not sure why….we found it to be a fabulous place to visit.

On our first trip in to the park we booked tickets to do the self guided tour into the first part the Mammoth cave system. Being a bit on the claustrophobic side, I was expecting this to be slightly challenging…….but no……. Mammoth Cave is just that….mammoth….!!! Going down the steps into the cave you transition from that warm humid air of the surrounding forest….. quickly into the cool 54F (12C) of the cave.

After moving through the security gates at the entrance, the cave quickly opens up into the Rotunda, a chamber that feels like a huge ballroom. The dome of the chamber looks like a carefully crafted coffered ceiling.

There is a bit of an adjustment to the low light and a realisation that a flashlight would have been a good thing to bring.

At the far end of the area available for this self guided tour we met and chatted with a young and enthusiastic ranger who had many stories and insights into the history of the cave.

Like much of Kentucky and Tennessee, the cave has its own history of enslavement. It was a rich source of saltpeter during the War of 1812 when slaves were utilised to extract the minerals to feed the war machine. (NB. The Revolutionary war ended in 1783 and resulted in the Declaration of independence of the United States from British rule. The War of 1812 was about establishing Maritime rights and resolving trade restrictions imposed by the British fleet hence requiring a domestic source of gunpowder ingredients…!!!)

Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the world…..with much of it still unexplored. The whole system has been formed by water seeping down through the limestone layers…….the architecture of the walls and ceiling are a testament to the power of water and time.

On our way back out we were fortunate to meet up with the young ranger again as he shared more stories and pointed out some of the relics found in the cave from its pre 18th century history.

We were quite enthralled by the cave….so the plan for the next day was to find an above ground hike for the morning and then follow the Historic Tour underground in the afternoon.

The Green Bluffs Trail.

Green Bluffs trail was the overground choice. We packed a lunch and a change of clothes. (It was a very warm and very humid day……this part of the world seems to experience sudden short thunderstorms with impressive….but thankfully short downpours)

….and set off on the trail.

The trail follows a high path above the Green River, luckily in shade most of the way.

The trail weaves back down to the river…….we followed the boardwalk out of curiosity and found that it led to the outflow river from the cave itself….

Continuing on the path which was not the most challenging we have ever done….but definitely as hard as one wanted to be working in the humidity.

Beautiful trail….strangely no bugs…!!! (not complaining)…then a bit of a diversion as they were constructing boardwalks on part of the trail.

We found one of the strangest….and coolest fungi I have seen on our travels……

….and much evidence that the river has seen very large volumes of water recently. The ford and boat launch were closed and you could see how high the muddy waters had flowed recently.

Due to the harvesting of the early settlers, the native trees of the area have been largely replaced by maples which were considered low quality lumber…..so were not harvested thereby reseeding and becoming the dominant tree species…..