Are goal for today is Mammoth Cave National Park. A 53,000 acre park that is pretty much woods. There’s not a lot to see here since the woods blocks most of the views but the real prize is what lies below. In the 1930s maybe 50 to 100 miles of underground caves were known. Since then more cave exploration continued and now more than 400 miles of passageways are mapped.
There are a number of various guided tours one can sign up for so we elect to do the Drips and Domes tour. Many of the other tours are in caverns that are totally dry. We meet at our assigned rendezvous’ point at two in the afternoon and our National Park Ranger Guide gives us an introduction to what we will see. The tour starts with a bus ride then we stop at a pull off in the woods. Our guide is a black man who was born and raised in the area. His father, grandfather, great grandfather, and great great grandfather all were cave guides. This great great grandfather was a slave and as a slave led white tourists on cave tours.
The part of cave we are entering was discovered around 1930 and explored over the next few years. Shortly afterwards the private land and underlying cave were acquired though emanate domain and made part of the National Park.
We return to the surface at a different location and load into the waiting bus. We’re back at our rig shortly after 4 and decide to head towards Berea, Kentucky. Along the way we find a county campground and stop for the night.
Seeing North America 