After a rendezvous at Louisville, we dropped down to Elizabethtown to spend the night. While there, we collected groceries and other supplies. Early in the morning we headed south the Cave City and then in to the Mammoth Cave National Park to camp. We had two days to complete two separate tours of the cave — The Natural Entrance Tour and the Domes and Dripstones Tour. Both were multi-hour walking (and climbing) tours and they were both excellent. The camping was excellent too — great sites, wooded and quiet.

I took 100’s of pictures in the cave, but the lighting is very low — of course! — and you can’t use a flash. Given the scale of the cave areas, a flash would not have helped much even if you wanted to get tossed from the tour for a picture! As such, only a few pictures came out very well, but here are a few:

The natural entrance to the cave.The long level cave passage inside the natural entrance.Saltpeter mining near the natural cave entrance. This mine was very active during the war of 1812.'Fat Man's Misery' - a water-cut groove in the cave floor winds it's way along with the entire tour group shifting, twisting, and turning to squeeze through the passage.The climb up to the 'Frozen Niagara' formation. Very low light levels, so all the the (people) motion is blurred.Part of the 'Frozen Niagara' formation.Part of the 'Frozen Niagara' formation.Part of the 'Frozen Niagara' formation.The top of the Frozen Niagara. (Looking straight up).A column created by flow-stone.The Frozen Niagara itself.The campground at Mammoth is heavily forested. There are quite a lot of deer making their way through the forest -- particularly at dawn and early evening.

 

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