Our Kentucky visit has been wonderful. Bowling Green has been a pleasant surprise and it is rated in the top 25 places in the US to retire. I can see why with all that it has to offer. Louisville is much bigger than I ever imagined but its a nice clean, very dynamic and modern city right on the Ohio River. We saw a few Street Rods cruising downtown during our visit. I learned that thousands of cool cars will be on display this weekend at the Kentucky Expo Center for the annual Street Rod Nationals.
Guided Cave Tour
The last couple of days we have been visiting Mammoth Cave National Park. We started off with guided tour of the Frozen Niagara. We arrived early for our 9:15 tour. That gave us time to go through the visitor center and check out gift shops.
When it was time we headed over to shelter B where we caught our bus, along with 30 other people. The bus took us for a 10 minute ride to the cave entrance.
This entrance was discovered in the 1920s, it opened a whole new way to see Mammoth Cave. As soon as we entered the cave we descend through impressive pits, domes, and a few narrow openings. Arriving 250 feet below ground. At that point we were rewarded with large passages and underground hills as we followed our guide to the Frozen Niagara formation discovered in 1923. From Frozen Niagara to the cave exit we passed through what we were told is one of the most decorative and photographed areas of Mammoth Cave.
The surface of Mammoth Cave National Park encompasses about 80 square miles. No one knows how big the underside is. More than 400 miles of the five-level cave system have been mapped, and new caves are continually being discovered. Mammoth is the world’s longest known cave system.
The current length of other long caves
Jewel Cave in South Dakota :160 miles
Optymistychna in Ukraine: 147 miles
Sistema Ox Bel Ha in Mexico :145 miles
Wind Cave in South Dakota : 137 miles
Sistema Sac Actun in Mexico : 135 miles
Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico : 130 miles
Hoelloch in Switzerland : 123 miles
Fisher Ridge System in Kentucky 118 miles
The Clearwater System in Malaysia : 117 miles
Self Guided Tour
We did the self guided Discovery Tour. The well paved path to the entrance of the cave was covered with lush green trees. We were met by a park ranger who walked us through safety procedures and rules for exploring the cave. One main issue addressed was white-noise syndrome carried by the bats that live inside the caves. Although not harmful to humans, visitors are asked to walk through a solution on the way out to prevent transmission outside of the cave.
The entrance to the cave is a series of long steps. The minute we reached the bottom of the steps, we felt the temperature change.The cave was right around 58 degrees during our visit.
The tour was very good. Denise said she enjoyed the self guided tour and I liked the Frozen Niagara tour. I liked the tighter passageways and the formations and Denise liked the idea of touring the dry cave, something we had not done before. They were both good.
Hiking
Did you find the Vettes that sank in the museum??? Norm
It took a while but we found them. They were camouflage in mud! Of all the places to have a sink hole, right in the middle of the most expensive cars around.
Great trips you are having. This cave trip reminds me of an exploration with friends in the early 70s, a bat hit me in the face and I looked down and it was in my lap…no harm done, but was memorable. His radar was off that day.
Wow..That would wake you up..
Just checking in and we hope you are enjoying your new lifestyle. In Sept we were thinking of Gettysburg battlefields and sight and sound to see Jesus play. Let me know if there are other things you would like to do and I can get some info on it. Be safe my friends.
I’ll call you early next week when we get back to a good cell signal.