Thursday, June 30, 2005
Fat Man's Misery
posted by Jonathan at 12:22 PM
Current Location: Florence, KY, N 39 00.221', W 084 38.916', elev. 875 ft.
On tuesday, I got an oil change for the car. I've gone about 6500 miles on the trip, and getting about 27 mpg so far. I left Knoxville TN, headed west on I-40. At some point I crossed into Central Time, though I didn't see any signs on the highway marking this transition. In the mid afternoon, I arrived in Nashville, TN, center of the country music world. I drove around the city, but it was so very hot that day. It was the middle of a heat wave, so I didn't feel much like doing anything. I drove around the city some more checking out the sights. I drove past the Country Music Hall of Fame, and was tempted to take the tour, but then thought better of it, since I probably only know of 2 or 3 country music artists. I headed north from Nashville on I-65, and got to Bowling Green, KY (N 36 56.021', W 086 24.999', elev. 1036 ft.) at about 7 PM (or so I thought). When I got into town, I checked into a motel and found that I was in Central Time, and it was only about 6 PM. Extra hour, bonus! Bowling Green is home to the National Corvette Museum, but after my experiences in Atlanta, I'm more reluctant to stop and take these kind of tours. I don't know if maybe I've just gotten too cynical in my old age, if I'm a little too cheap to be cheated by tourist trap stuff, or if its just that I realize that National Parks have so much more to offer than CNN, Coca-Cola et al. Bowling Green is also home to a lot of caves and caverns, and the main attraction for me was 20 miles north, Mammoth Cave National Park.
I arrived at Mammoth Cave (N 37 11.293', W 086 06.045', elev 742 ft.) on wednesday morning, drove around the park some, and then went to the visitor center to see what it was all about. I have never been inside a cave before, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. I walked around the visitor center some, getting my bearings, and figuring out what cave tour(s) would be best to go on. A lot of the literature I have suggested that it is best to book tours in advance because they sell out, but none were sold out that day. I decided to sign up for two tours, the Frozen Niagara Tour at 12:15, and the Historic Tour at 2:45. Each was $11, with no discount from my National Parks Pass, but definitely worth the price of admission.
I had a little bit of time, and the temperature inside the cave is 54 degrees F year round, so I went back to my car, and put on jeans and sneakers and grabbed a sweatshirt. However, it was such a hot day, well over 90 degrees F, and very humid, that I had already been sweating wearing shorts and flip flops.
It was very hot, and the jeans and sneakers and carrying around a sweatshirt didn't help. I guess much of the nation has been experiencing a heat wave of late. Its the kind of hot where you can sweat sitting in the shade. I'm not a person who likes to sweat, but I typically don't mind the heat as much as other people. I waited inside the air conditioned visitor center until my tour was called, at which time I walked out to the bus stop where they pick you up for the tour. The entrance to the Frozen Niagara tour is about a 5 minute drive from the visitor center, but with 40 people crammed on a hot bus, it seemed to take much longer.
We finally got to the cave entrance, and it was just this big door sticking out of the ground, almost like going into a basement, or perhaps a doorway to the magical land of Narnia.
Abandon every hope, ye who enter here
Going inside, you notice huge bugs, they have long legs like spiders, but they are actually cave crickets, and they are huge, some as big as your hand. I wanted to get a couple of photos, but since the path down into the cave was wet, single file stairs, I didn't really want to stop the flow of traffic to take the photos. As soon as you start descending the "million dollar staircase" a set of about 350 stairs, you start to feel the cool air. The way down is lit by electric lights which the guide in front turns on and the guide behind turns off. The cave is breathtaking, there are some really nice sights to see, here are a few.
I won't bore you with too many photos. I took 129, but since I was in a cave, some are tough to decipher. In fact, some I wasn't sure if they needed to be oriented as landscape or portrait once I got them onto the PC.
Mammoth Cave is the largest known cave system in the world, at least 360 miles of mapped path, and water has been carving its walls, ceilings and floors for over 200 million years. On the Frozen Niagara tour, we descended to a depth of over 250 feet, but we were still somewhere in the middle. I was surprised how many open caverns and huge rooms were to be found inside the cave. The tour was not too difficult as far as walking up and down steep paths or climbing is concerned, but there were some tight spots where it is a little harder for a large gentleman to pass through, but nothing impossible. One thing I wanted to mention is that while the cave air is 54 degrees, it is quickly warmed by 150 hot bodies passing into it, so by the middle of the tour, I was still sweating with the jeans and the sweatshirt. There were a few stops in the tour where the park range tour guide had us rest and she talked about the geology of the cave. At one of the stops she turned of all the lights, and asked everyone to be quite so we could appreciate the quiet darkness. and how the first cave explorers relaxed. The cave is a dry cave for the most part, no running water on the levels we were on, so the quiet could drive you crazy before the darkness if you were ever lost. Unfortunately, there were scores of children on the tour that day, and kids can't stay quiet for very long, so that came to an end very quickly. Kids on tours can be fun, but they can also become very annoying very quickly, especially in the tight spaces.
Near the end of the Frozen Niagara tour, we finally came upon some formations in the cave, an area known as the Frozen Niagara for its resemblance to a waterfall. 85% of the formations in all of Mammoth Cave are part of this room. There were some very neat formations, (stalactites, stalagmites, bacon, popcorn, drapery, and column formations).
That was pretty much the end of that tour, so we walked out via a different path and boarded the bus. Since I had been so hot, I wen tback to my car, cranked the AC, and had some lunch. I also changed out of the jeans, and left the sweatshirt in the car.
For the Historic Tour, we didn't need to take a bus, as the main entrance to the cave is very near the visitor center. And the entrance is simply amazing, it is just this huge huge dark hole in the ground. You walk down to it, and you immediately think of Alice in Wonderland, deciding weather or not to follow the White Rabbit into the hole. The air in the vicinity of the cave is much cooler and less humid than the land, and so it is a pleasure just satnding in an around the mouth of the cave while the park ranger goes over the saftey tips.
Step into your cave. Find your power animal. Slide.
Where the Frozen Niagara tour focused on the geology of the cave, the Historical Tour focused on the history of the cave, from Indians as long as 4000 years ago, to the cave's discovery by Europeans in colonial times, to the manufacture of saltpeter for gunpowder in the war of 1812, to the tourisim industry starting in the 1800s. The path of the Historical tour is much gentler, much less stairs and many more huge open caverns, but it is a longer path with less stops, and you go deeper into the cave a maximum depth of about 360 feet. The park ranger talks about how saltpeter was made by slaves out of bat droppings during the war of 1812. He goes further into history and talks about preachers who used the cave for its natural acoustics, and how there has even been some weddings. This part of t the cave was much cooler, but I was very comfortable with just shorts and a t-shirt, since there were fewer breaks.
The features inside the cave have some out of the ordinary names, too, such as bottomless pit, the river Styx, and Fat Man's Misery and Tall Man's Misery.
Fat Man's Misery was a path through the cave where the path was only about 2 feet wide and the wall came up to about my waist before widening out, but it was still passable for this fat man.
You can view all of the day's good photos here.
We left the historic tour via a huge firetower, about 250 stairs straight up and came back out into the main cavern we had entered and back out through the main cave entrance. Leaving the cave, the air was instantly hot and humid, and my glasses fogged up immediately. I had a fun day, but I was hot and sticky and wanted a shower. I left the park, and caught back up with I-65, which I followed north through Louisville, KY, at some point passing back into the eastern time zone. In Louisville, I caught up with I-71 North and East, which I drove to Florence KY, about 10 miles south of Cincinnati, OH, where I stopped for the night.
On tuesday, I got an oil change for the car. I've gone about 6500 miles on the trip, and getting about 27 mpg so far. I left Knoxville TN, headed west on I-40. At some point I crossed into Central Time, though I didn't see any signs on the highway marking this transition. In the mid afternoon, I arrived in Nashville, TN, center of the country music world. I drove around the city, but it was so very hot that day. It was the middle of a heat wave, so I didn't feel much like doing anything. I drove around the city some more checking out the sights. I drove past the Country Music Hall of Fame, and was tempted to take the tour, but then thought better of it, since I probably only know of 2 or 3 country music artists. I headed north from Nashville on I-65, and got to Bowling Green, KY (N 36 56.021', W 086 24.999', elev. 1036 ft.) at about 7 PM (or so I thought). When I got into town, I checked into a motel and found that I was in Central Time, and it was only about 6 PM. Extra hour, bonus! Bowling Green is home to the National Corvette Museum, but after my experiences in Atlanta, I'm more reluctant to stop and take these kind of tours. I don't know if maybe I've just gotten too cynical in my old age, if I'm a little too cheap to be cheated by tourist trap stuff, or if its just that I realize that National Parks have so much more to offer than CNN, Coca-Cola et al. Bowling Green is also home to a lot of caves and caverns, and the main attraction for me was 20 miles north, Mammoth Cave National Park.
I arrived at Mammoth Cave (N 37 11.293', W 086 06.045', elev 742 ft.) on wednesday morning, drove around the park some, and then went to the visitor center to see what it was all about. I have never been inside a cave before, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. I walked around the visitor center some, getting my bearings, and figuring out what cave tour(s) would be best to go on. A lot of the literature I have suggested that it is best to book tours in advance because they sell out, but none were sold out that day. I decided to sign up for two tours, the Frozen Niagara Tour at 12:15, and the Historic Tour at 2:45. Each was $11, with no discount from my National Parks Pass, but definitely worth the price of admission.
I had a little bit of time, and the temperature inside the cave is 54 degrees F year round, so I went back to my car, and put on jeans and sneakers and grabbed a sweatshirt. However, it was such a hot day, well over 90 degrees F, and very humid, that I had already been sweating wearing shorts and flip flops.
It was very hot, and the jeans and sneakers and carrying around a sweatshirt didn't help. I guess much of the nation has been experiencing a heat wave of late. Its the kind of hot where you can sweat sitting in the shade. I'm not a person who likes to sweat, but I typically don't mind the heat as much as other people. I waited inside the air conditioned visitor center until my tour was called, at which time I walked out to the bus stop where they pick you up for the tour. The entrance to the Frozen Niagara tour is about a 5 minute drive from the visitor center, but with 40 people crammed on a hot bus, it seemed to take much longer.
We finally got to the cave entrance, and it was just this big door sticking out of the ground, almost like going into a basement, or perhaps a doorway to the magical land of Narnia.
Abandon every hope, ye who enter here
Going inside, you notice huge bugs, they have long legs like spiders, but they are actually cave crickets, and they are huge, some as big as your hand. I wanted to get a couple of photos, but since the path down into the cave was wet, single file stairs, I didn't really want to stop the flow of traffic to take the photos. As soon as you start descending the "million dollar staircase" a set of about 350 stairs, you start to feel the cool air. The way down is lit by electric lights which the guide in front turns on and the guide behind turns off. The cave is breathtaking, there are some really nice sights to see, here are a few.
I won't bore you with too many photos. I took 129, but since I was in a cave, some are tough to decipher. In fact, some I wasn't sure if they needed to be oriented as landscape or portrait once I got them onto the PC.
Mammoth Cave is the largest known cave system in the world, at least 360 miles of mapped path, and water has been carving its walls, ceilings and floors for over 200 million years. On the Frozen Niagara tour, we descended to a depth of over 250 feet, but we were still somewhere in the middle. I was surprised how many open caverns and huge rooms were to be found inside the cave. The tour was not too difficult as far as walking up and down steep paths or climbing is concerned, but there were some tight spots where it is a little harder for a large gentleman to pass through, but nothing impossible. One thing I wanted to mention is that while the cave air is 54 degrees, it is quickly warmed by 150 hot bodies passing into it, so by the middle of the tour, I was still sweating with the jeans and the sweatshirt. There were a few stops in the tour where the park range tour guide had us rest and she talked about the geology of the cave. At one of the stops she turned of all the lights, and asked everyone to be quite so we could appreciate the quiet darkness. and how the first cave explorers relaxed. The cave is a dry cave for the most part, no running water on the levels we were on, so the quiet could drive you crazy before the darkness if you were ever lost. Unfortunately, there were scores of children on the tour that day, and kids can't stay quiet for very long, so that came to an end very quickly. Kids on tours can be fun, but they can also become very annoying very quickly, especially in the tight spaces.
Near the end of the Frozen Niagara tour, we finally came upon some formations in the cave, an area known as the Frozen Niagara for its resemblance to a waterfall. 85% of the formations in all of Mammoth Cave are part of this room. There were some very neat formations, (stalactites, stalagmites, bacon, popcorn, drapery, and column formations).
That was pretty much the end of that tour, so we walked out via a different path and boarded the bus. Since I had been so hot, I wen tback to my car, cranked the AC, and had some lunch. I also changed out of the jeans, and left the sweatshirt in the car.
For the Historic Tour, we didn't need to take a bus, as the main entrance to the cave is very near the visitor center. And the entrance is simply amazing, it is just this huge huge dark hole in the ground. You walk down to it, and you immediately think of Alice in Wonderland, deciding weather or not to follow the White Rabbit into the hole. The air in the vicinity of the cave is much cooler and less humid than the land, and so it is a pleasure just satnding in an around the mouth of the cave while the park ranger goes over the saftey tips.
Step into your cave. Find your power animal. Slide.
Where the Frozen Niagara tour focused on the geology of the cave, the Historical Tour focused on the history of the cave, from Indians as long as 4000 years ago, to the cave's discovery by Europeans in colonial times, to the manufacture of saltpeter for gunpowder in the war of 1812, to the tourisim industry starting in the 1800s. The path of the Historical tour is much gentler, much less stairs and many more huge open caverns, but it is a longer path with less stops, and you go deeper into the cave a maximum depth of about 360 feet. The park ranger talks about how saltpeter was made by slaves out of bat droppings during the war of 1812. He goes further into history and talks about preachers who used the cave for its natural acoustics, and how there has even been some weddings. This part of t the cave was much cooler, but I was very comfortable with just shorts and a t-shirt, since there were fewer breaks.
The features inside the cave have some out of the ordinary names, too, such as bottomless pit, the river Styx, and Fat Man's Misery and Tall Man's Misery.
Fat Man's Misery was a path through the cave where the path was only about 2 feet wide and the wall came up to about my waist before widening out, but it was still passable for this fat man.
You can view all of the day's good photos here.
We left the historic tour via a huge firetower, about 250 stairs straight up and came back out into the main cavern we had entered and back out through the main cave entrance. Leaving the cave, the air was instantly hot and humid, and my glasses fogged up immediately. I had a fun day, but I was hot and sticky and wanted a shower. I left the park, and caught back up with I-65, which I followed north through Louisville, KY, at some point passing back into the eastern time zone. In Louisville, I caught up with I-71 North and East, which I drove to Florence KY, about 10 miles south of Cincinnati, OH, where I stopped for the night.