On the Road 8 x 30; 24 x 7

06-06-2005 Mammoth Cave, Grand Avenue Tour

We descended into one of the 24 known entrances to Mammoth Cave; Carmichael Entrance. With an outside temperature of 94 degrees with 87% relative humidity it felt like a refrigerator when we descended 150 or so steps into the cave. We saw several small bats hanging just by the door when we entered. That was really the only living things we saw except for some utility workers who are installing eight miles of new wiring in the cave to replace the original from the 1940's. The first part of the tour was a one-mile walk through a natural tunnel formed by the flowing waters of Green River beginning some 3 million years ago. We stopped at the Snowball room for a boxed lunch and then proceeded through the second part of the tour. We shimmied through narrow, high tunnels for another mile or so. The group in front of us was talking about claustrophobia but it didn't bother either of us.

There were no live formations until the very end of our tour as we ascended several long ramps and steep stairways. The cap rock is compromised over this part of the cave and water is running down inside causing new formations. We descended 49 optional steps and returned on 49 mandatory steps, as the ranger so succinctly put it, to view The Drapery Room. Bob and I have visited many caves over the years. In fact several of our first dates together were to visit Meramac, Onondaga and Marvel Caves in Missouri. We've seen Carlsbad in New Mexico, Sonora and Longhorn Caverns in Texas, and recently Cathedral Caverns in Alabama. Of all these caves, Mammoth has the least number of active formations. It is mostly a dry tunnel; its only distinction being that it is the longest known cave.

The big shock of the day was emerging from our underground icebox after over four hours to encounter the sultry conditions on the surface. Back at the Visitor Center we walked the short ramp down to the Historic Entrance (the natural cave opening.) The tours here have been suspended while they remodel. When we turned the corner at the bottom of the walkway to stand in front of the opening we were unprepared for the blast of chilly air that hit us. It felt like walking into a deep freeze on a hot summer day. We didn't even go down the stairs to stand in the cave opening. We just soaked up the cool air rising to the top. They say you can see a mist on certain days. On the way back up the walkway we spied a deer resting in the shade in the woods.

Mammoth Cave has ancient origins 325 million years ago. Indigenous peoples lived and hunted in Kentucky between 2,000 and 4,000 years ago in the Late Archaic Period (3000-1000 B.C.). These early explorers traveled 10 or so miles within Mammoth Cave, using cane plants as torches, in order to collect the minerals mirabilite, epsomite and gypsum. A torch of four or five canes about three feet long provided better illumination than modern carbide lamps, and, on average, lasted nearly an hour. Some American Indians utilized the cave to prepare bodies for burial. Researchers found parts of 41 human skeletons at the Salts Cave campsite in the cave.

Exploration of the cave ceased some 2,000 years ago and did not begin again until the rediscovery of the cave in 1798. Frontiersmen quickly realized that Mammoth Cave contained saltpeter (used in making gunpowder), and during the War of 1812, Hyman Gratz and Charles Wilkens established a commercial saltpeter leaching factory there. Beginning in 1838 the public began to appreciate the geologic, cultural and biological importance of Mammoth. Franklin Gorin, the owner at the time, initiated a regular guide force led by a 17-year-old slave, Stephen Bishop. In 1839, a new owner, Dr. John Croghan, extensively developed and explored the cave, exploiting it commercially as one of the great wonders of the world. America seemed to lack the ancient places and cultural antiquities that Europe boasted and the promotion of places like Mammoth Cave helped fill that void.

Dr. Croghan also established an underground tuberculosis hospital in the cave. He believed that the stable temperature, from the mid-50s to the low 60s year-round, and apparent dryness would have a curative effect on patients. Volunteer patients lived in the cave in small stone structures with canvas roofs. The experiment was a failure. Within a few months, a few of the invalids died and many other left the cave. Ironically, Dr. Croghan died six years after the experiment--a victim of tuberculosis.

Mammoth Cave was authorized as a national park in 1926 and was fully established in 1941. At that time just 40 miles of passageway had been mapped. Several caves in the park were shown to be connected, and today, the cave system is known to extend well beyond the national park's 53,000 surface acres. With more than 350 miles of surveyed passageways, Mammoth Cave is more than twice as long as any known cave. Geologists estimate that there could be as many as 600 miles of yet undiscovered passageways. About 130 forms of life can be found there, including over 70 threatened, endangered or listed species. Most are quite small.

The park was named a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in 1981 and became the core area of an International Biosphere Reserve in 1990. The main objective of UNESCO is to promote collaboration among nations through education, science, culture and communication to help maintain sites that are of cultural and scientific significance to all mankind. Mammoth Cave National Park joined the ranks of renowned places like Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Egypt's Pyramids of Giza, Nepal's Kathmandu Valley and India's Taj Mahal Historic Park. We left Mammoth Cave National Park, our first National Park on our journeys, and stopped in Cave City to see if Mario's Restaurant that we spotted yesterday was open for lunch. But they were closed so we headed back towards Glasgow. We ate at our local favorite, The Tumbleweed. Our waitress, Pam, recognized us and asked where we'd been. Bob said "She's really going to wonder where we are after tomorrow because we're outta here!" Bob had the Tilapia Fajitas again and I tried the Pacific Mahi-Mahi. Both were excellent.

Just as we were ready to leave it started raining cats and dogs. We have not seen it rain this hard in a long time. The wind was blowing it in sheets. Several of the Tumbleweed employees ran out to their cars to roll up the windows. The water was six inches deep on the parking lot and they were soaked. One waitress took an umbrella out to meet an employee who was coming on shift. Her umbrella turned inside out and they both got soaked. We waited in the lobby for a bit. Then we walked under the canopy to a discount shoe place I saw next door. I went in and looked around while Bob got left holding our To Go boxes under the canopy outside. Soon there was a mini-break and we dashed for the truck. By the time we got south of town on 31E and stopped in a gas station to fill up the rain had mostly subsided.

Back home we quickly put the boat on top of the truck and checked the air in the tires so we could get done before the rain. But we never got a drop here in the State Park. We read the paper and studied the maps for a while scoping out our next several destinations. Tomorrow we plan to stop near Columbus, Indiana, at an RV park just of I-65. Then we'll move on up near South Bend, Indiana. Beyond that, who knows!