Mammoth Cave

Yesterday we drove over to Mammoth Cave National Park. The ranger told us of a shortcut and a ferry we could take across the river. Now most of us have been on a ferry before. It's very relaxing to be on the water for a little while and get out of the car and feel the wind in your face. Here are a few pictures of our ferry ride.
We first came upon this sign..

It's telling us that the road ends in water!!

We then went around a corner and this is what we saw. This is our ferry coming to get us!!





The ride across took about 1 minute on this cable driven ferry. We had a good laugh and continued on to Mammoth Caves.

We arrived at the information booth, were told about the various tours. We decided to purchase tickets for the self guided 'Discovery Tour' and the longer guided 'New Entrance Tour'. We had a couple of hours before our guided tour started so we went in to the cafe and had some lunch first. Then we started down the path to the self guided tour.
During the early 1800's they mined this cave for Salt Petre. it was then refined and additives added to make black gunpowder. We also learned that a doctor in the early 1800's thought that the caves would give healing powers to those with tuberculous. About 15 people volunteered to go and live in the cave for a year. Of course it didn't work and they gave up after 10 months. But even 10 months spent in the cave was a hardship. At the time they were also giving tours and they would go right by these people. The ranger down there explained that these people would go up to the tourists and ask about weather and would smell them to know what was blooming on the surface!! I couldn't imagine trying to live in this cave for any length of time!

We then went on the guided tour. It was 250 steps down a steep, narrow opening.


Mammoth Cave is listed as one of the longest cave system in the country. There are not a lot of formations, just a lot of rock and they are still exploring portions of the caves. We did get to the portion of the cave that did have some formations. This is what they call Niagara.


Thankfully it was a gradual climb back out of the cave. We surely got our exercise yesterday!!