Mammoth Cave

As a last hurrah before school we as a family went to Kentucky and Tennessee. One of the main things we wanted to do was to go to Mammoth Cave. We left for Kentucky early on the morning of August 14. We drove the whole day and got to our hotel around 6. After we got here we ate at Colorado Grill which was delicious! We stayed in the Holiday Inn Express in Franklin, Kentucky. We have stayed in them multiple times and they have always been amazing.

The second day was Mammoth Cave day. We got there at 8:30 because our tickets were for the extended historic tour at 9. We did the usual tourist things like go to the gift shop to kill some time. At 9 our whole tour group gathered in a shelter and the ranger giving the tour went over the rules and did the standard tour things. Then we descended into the cave.

After we did the extended historic tour we ate lunch and then took the domes and dripstones tour. Mammoth cave has a limestone cap rock over most of it which keeps water out and allows it to be as big as it is. The sections of cave that have been explored are roughly 426 miles long in total. In this one part of the cave the cap rock is broken which means water flows. Most of the cave is just huge and it is in that section too but it had things like dripstone and stalactites. It was more like the caves we are used to seeing.

Both tour guides had a wonderful sense of humor. For example, the one tour guide said, “Now I know you’re wondering if the ceiling is stable or about to collapse. I’ll answer that question… at the next stop!” At the next stop she said, “In answer to the question I started last stop, do you think I would be walking around down here in a straw hat if I was afraid the ceiling was gonna fall?” Each tour took around 1.5 to 2 hours.