Cave Tour

On Sunday we finally got to take a tour of the cave.

Don’t go on a weekend. We had 111 people on our group. The way our tour worked is that the ranger would teach the group something and explain what we would see and then we’d form a long line to snake through the cave to the next group stop. If people didn’t keep up, there would be large gaps in the line. I didn’t time how long it took for the back of the group to reach the first stop but basically the ranger finished his talk and had to give a shortened version to the end of the group. Maybe 10-15 minutes from front to back.

Don’t bring a baby. The path included hundreds of steps and lots of areas where you had to watch your head along with needing to hold the handrails where it was steep or slippery. One lady carried her baby through the whole thing (and yes the baby cried at times).

Don’t bring young children who are unable to be quiet. As soon as one young girl reached the group, the rest of the group had a hard time hearing the ranger as she kept talking and yelling to her dad.

Besides that, it was a good tour. We always learn something. They are using orange LED lighting now to reduce energy costs and reduce the growth of bacteria and mold.

Mammoth Cave doesn’t have many formations, but we saw most of them on this tour (Domes and Dripstones).

Most of the cave is dry but there are still areas with water dripping through.

We even saw cave crickets (though I thought they look like spiders).

Just to finish with a prettier picture than bugs, this one is sunrise at Sunset Point. Hey, I like hiking in the morning, not evening!