Cave of Time

One of the things I was most excited about (aside from seeing family) when I visited Kentucky was a visit to Mammoth Cave. Alisha and I had visited Kaneaha Cave and Kaumana Cave in Hawaii, but when we heard that Kentucky was home to the world's largest cave system we really wanted to visit.

Mammoth Cave entrance

Currently there are 400 miles of underground cave walkways that can be linked to this cave system, but they're actively exploring and continue to find new passages.

One of the neatest things I got to see in the cave was this cross:

I don't think anyone else in our group got to see it, because the guides kept us walking at a brisk pace. By the time I noticed it was there, I snapped a picture with my cell phone and hurried to catch up. The cross was formed by a metal pipe sticking out of a large boulder, with another metal pipe crossing it.

There were many interesting and amazing sights while we walked through two cave tours. There were lots of caverns and spaces like these, each one looking slightly different. These pictures were taken once we were 300-400 feet underground.

  

Other parts of the cave had stalactites, stalagmites, and other patterns that were formed by water slowly dripping over centuries or thousands of years. In some places, it looked like the wall of the cave had been melted by intense heat, but they said that the cave stays at an almost constant temperature year-round:

 

Various parts of the cave had names carved onto the ceiling or written with the smoke and soot of a candle. The guide told us that wealthy travellers would travel into the cave with a guide, then pay a bonus for the guide to write their name onto the cave ceiling. There were several names from the 1800's, still written in candle soot:

One name above was dated "1839"

Then to give us extra heeby-jeebies, near one of the cave exits there was a batch of spiders and crickets (most of what's shown are cave crickets) hovering above the doorway!

Have fun tonight trying to get to sleep with that image in your head!