11-10 Mammoth Cave,KY

I really had not planned it this way, but I have visited three caves in the last month: Kartchners Cavers near Tucson, Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, and now Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.  I had originally planned to stop here, but it was on my way and I needed a place to rest for a couple of days, so it worked out well.  I had been here way back in 1967 and with the kids in the late 70s, I think.

I was able to get the camphost site, which meant that I had full hookups for two nights at the senior rate.  Almost every national and state park has two or three sites reserved for campers who spend a month or even the whole season at a campground.  They get a free site in a scenic area and sometimes a small wage for doing a few hours work each week.  Many of the national and state parks that rely on summer visitors are closed or slowing down operations so camphosts are on their way to warmer places or to visit family and friends. 

Anyway, I took only a two-hour trip of the cave, and spent the rest of my day today relaxing and trying to catch up on grading papers.  Here is the entrance to the cave and going down into it:

 These last ones show some of the inside of the cave and the tight spots.  It is not as pretty a cave as the other two I visited, but it is certainly huge and very historic.

 



 

 By the way, 6 month old babies do not like caves.  One couple brought their baby, and the poor thing cried almost all of the time.