Mammoth Cave, KY

Ray's Reflections:  At age 5 or 6, I visited The Mammoth Cave, but do not remember much. Marsha was never here. Our planned schedule included visits to the caves and tours of the surrounding area. The first excursion was to Bowling Green, 25mi south, to tour The Lost River Cave underground boat ride. We thought our legs would be better off riding than walking with Mammoth Cave coming up in a couple of days.

History of the cave goes back to Indian days, civil war, and making the claim as the first air-conditioned nightclub in the US. Constant cave temps around 54. The gift shop had many pictures of couples in the 20s & 30s with men in suits and ties and the women in flapper skirts dancing in the cave’s nightclub at the entrance. The boat ride was less than historical, if you can call a 400-foot ride a boat ride (200 ft into and 200 ft out). Who said everything one does has to be worth it?
At the Mammoth Cave, we elected to take a short tour (2 hr) which included the Niagara Falls room. Some of the tours lasted almost all day The tour started at the bottom of a small dry sinkhole through a steel door in the side of the hill with a concrete hallway 7-foot high, 4-feet wide and about 100-ft. long.

It is designed to separate intrusion from the outside world, animals birds, bats etc. This was not a natural entrance into the cave but man made. The property owners searched for years to locate a new entrance into the cave. Thus the name New Entrance to this section. At the other end of this hallway through another door was an almost vertical drop of 250-ft. which we descended twisting and turning on a stairway made of sturdy aluminum and stainless with hand rails all very wet from water seeping into the cave. There were many low overhangs causing us to duck down almost to our waist. Before we entered the cave, our guide made a comment about being claustrophobic, if we made it through the hallway, we could make it the rest of the way. However, he did not mention waist sizes, maybe he should have because some of the areas on the stairs were tight for others on the tour. Our guide was very well versed on the cave history and geological aspects. He made the tour very enjoyable. We had three anticipated rest stops, with no restrooms untill we reached the surface.

The Niagara was more than we expected. I only took 260 photos total, thank heaven for the delete button. What a great tour. Well worth it! A many bats naturally, and crickets. And of course the famous turn the lights off tests, that was true darkness-----nothing------We were thinking about another cave tour but after consideration we decided against it, besides the legs and joints aren’t what they use to be. Highly recommend.
Bike riding around the Mammoth Cave area was very enjoyable. Many good back roads passing small farms with tractors working the fields. You have to stay alert on the roads as you never know what is around the next turn or over the next blind hill, from farm machinery to horse-drawn trailers on the road doing a blazing 5-15 MPH, after all it is their roadway, not mine.

The smell of spring is in the air; tilled ground with a hint of clay, cow-horse-sheep-goat-pastures, and chicken farms. I was impressed with the farms, ranches, and private residents maintaining their yards, always looking just mowed, whether the yard is 50-ft or 500-ft deep. Umm, the smell of fresh cut grass that looks like fine angle hair. This area is dotted with Amish farms and their carriages, very friendly with a wave as I pass, but I take no personal photos out of courtesy.

I did take a ride on the back roads to Lincoln’s birthplace. A lot of history there, north of our park, 40 miles as the crow flies, but that day I put on 160 miles. Nice weather - nice day.