Mammonth Cave, KY

Mammoth Cave National Park has the most extensive cave system in the world. With 400 miles of surveyed passageways, Mammoth Cave is over twice as long as any known cave, and Geologists think there could be 600 miles of yet undiscovered passageways.

An African-American slave, Stephen Bishop, was a guide to the cave in the 1840's and 1850's. He was the first person to map the cave & name many of its features. He is also credited as the first person to cross the Bottomless Pit, pictured above.

We embarked on the 2-hour, 2-mile Historical Tour on Sunday morning. Not realizing we were on central time, we got there an hour early.

In this photo we start descending into the cave entrance.

Visitors to Mammoth Cave were invited to carve their name into the cave walls, but anyone who did this after 1947 was committing a Federal Offense.

The discovery of salt-petre in Mammoth Cave became significant during the War of 1812 when the British blocked US ports, thus the import of salt-petre used in making gunpowder. The mining vats and wooden pipes are still visible today.

These wooden pipes were hand-carved & hollowed out to carry water needed for the mining operation.

Warning! Fat Man's Misery - a long, winding, narrow passage that is also at times low overhead.

Joe squeezing through Fat Man's Misery. Don't get stuck!

Watch your head Joe!

Climbing up the steep 138 steps of Mammoth Dome to get out of the cave was exhausting.

Until next time...