Paths often traveled: Mammoth Cave
First and foremost. It should be noted: 98 days, 6 hours and some change after entering Sand Cave, My pokemon has returned. Meaning that at least 1 other person has traveled the Sand Cave Trail,* and knocked it out of the gym. This brings my experiment to an end. (Until I head up that way again.) Without any note, denying all probability, and dismissing every more likely option, I am going to assume that it was my article which inspired someone of opposite team to take that path less traveled and encounter the gym most ignored. So good job me!
Second point of order. Coffee Chronicles is pretty awesome, and it is cooking right now, if I do say so myself. It’s over on Kindle, and you can find links to it spread throughout the webpage. It’s going on 26 episodes, (the first 3 are free) and this first season is probably 2/3 over, if not a bit more. I purposefully under edit. I’ve accidentally lost track of a plot point or two, and My favorite character had their bestest** tragic arc pushed off to season two. I’m overselling it. But not really. It’s awesome! If you are interested in an alien and a kid who drinks too much coffee you should check it out! (Caffeine Enhanced Dimensional Travel!!!)
Art by me, don’t blame anyone with tallent.
Now, on to the main show!
I’ve spent two articles talking about Paths of Lesser Popularity*** in Mammoth Cave. (mostly above ground.) So I thought I should talk about some of my favorite paths below the ground. The caves.
This will probably take 2 weeks too. Mostly because I don’t want to turn this into a ridiculously long article.
Where to start?
Mammoth Cave is a long-storied cave which is also, simply, very long. There are many passages, many tours, and many things to see and do. I could wax poetic, but I’ll save that for the upcoming book: The Specters of Mammoth Cave: A Junior Rangers Investigative Club Novel. **** Instead I’ll get straight to the point! Time to talk about the Paths More Often Traveled.
A note before I begin: Rangers give most of these tours, (except the self guided tour where there are people along the way to talk about the cool stuff and answer questions.) This isn’t supposed to serve as a guide replacement, as I have read a lot about the cave, taken a lot of the tours, and am very interested in it. However I am not there every day. I don’t have the coolest information. And there is nothing which beats an expert literally standing in their area of expertise. This is supposed to encourage you to take the tours if at all possible, to whet your apatite, (geology pun) and provide a bit of information if you are unable to make the tours. You can find a lot more information out there if you are interested and unable to take these tours. I won’t provide links here, but there will be a future article about good sources of information on Mammoth Cave.
Finally, I will also make a small note to let you know if these tours, in some for or another, are mentioned in the upcoming book The Specters of Mammoth Cave, (If you’d forgotten its name.)
All that out of the way:
Path #1: Mammoth Passage tour. - (An introduction to Mammoth Cave.)
Mammoth Cave has many entrances. Several of which are still in use. The most accessible, the most obvious, is the historic entrance. Many tours start here. The self guided tour, sometimes but not always offered, goes through this first entry region inside the cave. You get to see the biggest room in Mammoth Cave: The Rotunda. You get to stop by a haunting area known as the Methodist Church, where once a preacher used to give lectures in the dark. Along the way, you pass by relics of a Saltpeter mining operation which took place in the cave in the early 1800’s. Wooden pipes which once carried slurries of mined material to the surface, old mining tools. When I took this tour it stopped outside of the old Tuberculosis Ward, where people built homes and stayed underground in hopes of treating the deadly disease. (It didn’t work out, and some of them are buried in the Old Guides Cemetery.) There is a short side trip to see several artifacts left behind by the
Why I like it? It is the most obvious, sure, and probably the most traveled and seen sections of the cave. Most of the tours which pass through the historic entrance visit some of the same sites on this tour. But none of those facts robs it of interest. Walking this short entrance section (short relative to the 400+ measured miles,) gives a good impression of the scale and scope of Mammoth Cave. It also has a lot of interesting locations, and old artifacts.
A single notable highlight (all I will do for all of these) As you approach the Methodist Church, or on your way back towards the entrance, if you get the chance, stop and listen. If the cave is-relatively-quiet, you should be able to hear what sounds like a ticking clock. This is a constant stream of water droplets which, out of sight, drips from a passage ceiling into a pool of water at a rate of about 1 drop per second. It’s a good tour, and if you only have time for one tour in Mammoth Cave you cant really argue against this being your choice!
— as the most obvious route in Mammoth Cave, sections of this tour feature heavily in the book. (Innaccuracies abounding I am certain.)
On to the next 1:
Path #2 — The Cleveland Avenue Tour
A tour so nice, I did it twice. The first time with a friend. The second time with family. The first time I took the tour the rangers seemed more interested in the geology. The second set of rangers seemed more interested in the history, which gave me great insight into the depth you can get on these tours. No doubt there is always something more to learn. (The tours are on a clock after all.) You get to take a bus to the cave entrance. The road is one you might recognize from your drive to the visitor center. - It’s a left turn closed to the public on your way. This is an artificial entrance, so it starts in a sinkhole and only goes downstairs from there. (and back up them at the end so not recommended if you don’t like stairs.) It starts in a wide open passage, goes down into some hollows which give everyone a good view of how the cave was formed. And also shows off some cave tour history. This was part of a tour back in the days when guides would take guests down for hours, and carry lunch with them. One of the stops is a ‘dining table’ where the tour would stop for a meal. Some remains of those old meals. . . remain. You get to see cave, cave sweat, and signatures left by guests long gone.
Why I like it: I like the geology focus. I also like the history focus. It’s interesting to see the signatures and learn more about the history of the cave. Also the gypsum flowers (aka: Cave Sweat) are fun cave formations to see.
Highlight: Check out the walls along early parts of this tour, you should be able to see some preserved fossils. (don’t touch though)
— Several of the routes the kids take in Specters of Mammoth Cave are based on my experiences in this part of the cave, it’s even an intended exit for one of their tours. However none of the routes in the book track 1:1 with this one.
Path #3 - Diamond Caverns.
No pictures of inside Diamond Caverns for some reason, but here I am by the entrance sign. Keep going and you will find it on your right.
What!!!! Anathema!!! I’m going outside the bounds, (well, within but not part,) of Mammoth Cave. Diamond Caverns is a Privately owned cave entrance and private land which sits, kind of like a small bit of food outside the amoebic arms of Mammoth Cave National Park. The cave is not part of Mammoth Cave. It’s not even part of the park. However it is cool. Sad Early spoiler: there are no diamonds. Just crystalline calcite, gypsum, etc. The whole reason this business has been able to persist is because the Cave tour they offer goes through a really interesting section of cave, formations, a unique chapel, and guides who have a pretty good head for the history.
Why I like it. It’s also a good look at the cave. Check out the thumbnails, enough said.
Highlight: I like that the entrance to the cave is indoors. It’s fun. (There are a lot of really cool things inside the cave, but I don’t want to spoil them.)
— In the book, this cave and it’s unique circumstance are mentioned, but the kids don’t take a tour. So if you want a better experience, take the tour yourself.
Ok! I spent a lot of time (some would say too much) on disclaimers today. So I think 3 is enough for today. I will definitely have to revisit this topic and talk about some of the other cave routes you should take if you have time in Mammoth Cave. Maybe at the end I will rank them. Maybe I will not. I hope that this, if nothing else, provides some information about what you have in store if you visit Mammoth Cave, and the types of things you can encounter in the cave. (also I hope you enjoyed the pictures.)
That’s all for now! Nathan out!
* Obviously other people have walked the Sand Cave Trail. If you go back to the original article about it, you will see that my pokemon isn’t even the only one resting in the gym. (so at least 4 other people have seen Sand Cave, and Rumor has it, some people who don’t play the phone version of geocaching with monsters might also hike in Mammoth Cave too.)
** Purposeful example of the editing you can (not) expect from Coffee Chronicles. Despite the hasty writing and multiple spelling mistakes, I would still recommend it!
*** Rejected Blog Title
**** There is no actual poetry in The Specters of Mammoth Cave. There are, of course, descriptions of the cave and grounds above the cave. They are no cave guides in the book. It’s fiction after all.