Paths Often Traveled: Mammoth Cave pt 2
Picking up right where I left off, without any side tangent or addendum. Let’s talk about some more Cave Tours: * one small caveat. I will, for the next two articles, be mentioning cave tours I have not taken, along with other’s I haven’t taken in a while. So, 1st there might not be pictures. (You can do your own image searches) and some of the information might be a bit more sparse.
Path #4 - Accessible Cave Tours.
Trail Paved by the CCC. Makes for easier tours. (not the Snowball room. search for those photos online.)
Not every section of Mammoth Cave is easy to access. Many entrances require stairs. Most have long slopes. Some have narrow passages. And some require you to crawl and squeeze into tight spaces in homage to early cave explorers. (These are specific tours where the claustrophobic passages are a feature, not a bug.) But there are tours which open the cave to a wider portion of park visitors. There are elevators which can take people into sections of the cave with well maintained paths with few slopes. This tour goes down part of Cleveland Avenue, touring several interesting rooms not on the other Cleveland Avenue tour.
Why I like it: The more people who can see the cave the better, and I’m happy there are options. There could always be more.
Notable Highlight The main accessible tour goes through a section called the Snowball Room. Which has some cool gypsum formations. (Not pictured here because I haven’t actually been in the room.)
— This route isn’t directly mentioned in the book, as the Specter Detectors took this tour without J.R.I.C. (mostly because I haven’t taken it and didn’t want to get the description wrong.)
Path # 5 Domes and Dripstones Tour, and the Frozen Niagara
These are active cave formations in Mammoth Cave, but they are not the Frozen Niagara, because, for some reason I didn’t take pictures of that on my last tour.
If you are looking to explore your first cave, you are probably hoping to see cave formations. This is the tour for that. (It’s in the name.) Lots of steps, ups and downs, and the most formations in Mammoth Cave. If you don’t want a long tour with all those steps, there is also a simpler version which goes to Mammoth Cave’s most prominent formation: the eponymous Frozen Niagara. It’s really cool. And one of the more photo worthy sections of the cave. (which is why I didn’t take any pictures (:-/))
Why I like it: Cave formations and a bus ride. Also it’s (the Frozen Niagara Tour itself) is another option for people who don’t want longer tours or stairs. (there are a few stairs though, so it’s not for everyone.)
Notable Highlight: The Frozen Niagara is too obvious. So I’ll give an interesting factoid instead. Originally, the room under the Frozen Niagara was called King Tut’s Tomb in honor of the early 1900’s interest in Ancient Egypt. However, with the death of several members of the party who opened King Tut’s tomb and rumors of a curse, they renamed the region. (you can find several other names in Mammoth Cave still remnant of Egyptian interest.)
— these routes, and a fictitious version of these routes (purposefully altered so that no one tries to use it as a cave guide) prominently feature in the book.
Path # 6 The Extended Historic Tour, and the River Styx Tour.
These are two separate tours. Both traverse several notable sections of the cave: The Mammoth Passage, (main entrance passage,) The Bottomless Pit, and Mammoth Dome. The River Styx tour also gives you the opportunity to carry lanterns down to the River Styx, so you get to see some of the underground river, and if you are lucky some of the aquatic cave life. There is a lot of history and a lot of cave on both of these tours. It also makes for a fun aboveground connection, as you can hike over to Mammoth Dome Sink, and see the drainage where water enters Mammoth Dome, making it one of the few living sections of the cave with growing cave formations.
Why I like it: Honestly, If you only have time and opportunity for one tour, and you want a longer experience in the cave, I think either of these would be my first recommendation. The River Styx tour if you can get it, (not always offered,) and the Extended Historic Tour otherwise. You will see some of the things offered on other tours through the main entrance, and get more information along the way.
Notable Highlight: That thing I said about Mammoth Dome, and visiting it aboveground at Mammoth Dome sink. There’s some geologic continuity for you.
— As many prominent locations are visible on these tours, J.R.I.C. will become very familiar with these passages. They will also take a side tour through these routes which is neither available nor entirely possible. (I made it up because it was fun!)
Paths Not Traveled by me:
There are several other notable tours through Mammoth Cave, and I might spend more time in the future talking about them, but, as they are paths and tours I haven’t taken or seen, I will only briefly mention them here.
Star Chamber Lanter tour: Another fun lantern tour! A different section of the cave!
Violet City Lantern Tour: This was voted the tour I most wanted to go on by me. And hits a l ot of the same routes as seen on the Extended Historic and River Styx tour.
Great Onyx Tours: This is another cave inside Mammoth Cave National Park. It isn’t connected to Mammoth Cave, but has a lot of it’s own notable history, and would be it’s own park highlight if Mammoth Cave didn’t hog all the popularity.
Cave Crawls: If you want the experience of crawling through small passages, there are several wild cave tours which take you through the tight squeezes, crawls, and narrow sections without developed paths.
Other: This isn’t a guide to every Cave Tour in Mammoth Cave National park. You can find that at https://www.nps.gov/maca/planyourvisit/cave-tours.htm. This is just about my thoughts on the cave, and to connect some of the places you will be able to explore in the book to their real world counterparts. Hopefully The Specters of Mammoth Cave will give you an idea of what it is like to delve through Mammoth Cave, but if you really want the cave experience, then maybe these last two posts will help you decide where to go.
Don’t feel well informed? No problem! There are way better sources for this information. The Park Rangers and Park Volunteers. Talk to them when you get there. But book a tour ahead of time if you get the chance!
(can you tell that I am rushing to finish this. I am currently researching Biscayne National Park for some reason and need to get back to that!) Mammoth Cave book soon(ish)!!!! (I would have published this at the normal time. But forgot I wanted to add pictures.