Cave

 3/18- Mammoth Cave National Park 

   Last night was a little chilly again. I don’t think we lost  any of the tenters but the visitor center was filled to overflowing this morning. Everyone was in trying to savor the warmth. 

   The place really was mobbed. The thing is the Park service is pretty experienced in dealing with crowds. I was impressed by how smoothly everything went. We had over 50 people on our tour and yet we were on time and it didn’t feel rushed. It was also warmer in the cave than outside. 

    We hopped on a bunch of buses and drove a ways and we entered the cave at the bottom of a sinkhole. This is one of 29 different entrances to the cave. Then we walked down some 500 stairs twisting and dropping through very narrow passages. I had to turn sideways a couple of times and walk hunched over for a ways. The ranger was good and he had a good knowledge of the history of the cave. The cave was not as spectacular as like Carlsbad but the size and breadth of some of the holes we saw was incredible. There weren’t any stalagmites or such until the very end. Some places were so deep I couldn’t get too close to the edge. 

   Eventually after walking a couple of more miles and another 200 plus stairs we came out in a different spot. This place is huge and they are still finding and mapping passageways. It makes me want to tiptoe on the surface knowing how underneath me is so riddled with caves. There are markers on the surface telling you about features that are below you. So now we have been to Colossal Cave and Mammoth Cave what’s next Humongus Cave?

   The weather had not improved much in our absence in fact it had rained and snowed. It was warmer though the cave was still warmer but eventually the sun came out just in time to settle under the horizon. Onwards we go tomorrow!!

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