Tanks for the Memories: Caving Grace
- Lindsay Britts
- Oct 5, 2017
- 3 min read
Getting inspired to do a little cruisin’ of your own? Ready to hit the road for a weekend ride to a place you’ve never been before? We can show you the best trips in your neck of the woods and you won’t even have to stop to fuel up. Each week, we pick a starting city and plan a getaway to some of the most charming, energetic, and just plain fun places that you’ll only need one tank of gas to reach. When it’s all over, you’ll be able to say… TANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!
Starting City: Nashville, TN
Destination: Mammoth Cave National Park, KY
Distance: about 90 miles
It’s October, and you may be looking for spooky and mysterious things to do for Halloween. What about the local haunted house? Been there, done that. You’ve been so often you’ve memorized it and can scare the monsters popping out to scare you. What about a new, dark, scary place? Like a cave? Like the biggest cave system in the world? That’ll spook the socks off of you! Hop in your seasonal ride-- the Batmobile, of course-- and cruise to Mammoth Cave National Park.
Source: NPS
Mammoth Cave National Park is part of Mammoth Cave, which is the world’s longest cave system at 405 miles in length. That’s the distance from New York City to Cleveland! The cave was used in archaic times by Native Americans, but mysteriously fell into disuse for several hundred years. It was discovered by European settlers in 1797 and mapped extensively in the 1850s and 1860s by Stephen Bishop, an African-American slave who worked as a guide in the caves. After a time where competition was stiff for cave touristry, known as the “Kentucky Cave Wars”, the cave and its surrounding lands were made into a National Park. Exploring happened throughout the 20th century, finding connections between area caves that all tracked back to Mammoth Cave. Mammoth Cave has also been named a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve, meaning scientific work is done to protect and conserve the cave. It is home to many varieties of bats, crickets, and the endangered Kentucky cave shrimp. Several walking tours take you throughout the cave, from the Mammoth Passage Tour that takes you to the famous large underground Rotunda, to the experts-only Wild Cave Tour that allows you to crawl, climb and creep for five hours. (Be aware that due to small spaces, you might be too large to squeeze through the passages!) Reservations are encouraged so that you aren’t left behind, and the information on length, walking distance, times, and prices are all available on their Fall Schedule website.
Source: NPS
If you’re not apt to go under the ground, there are several free activities that take place on the surface in the densely-wooded areas of the park. You can enjoy bird watching, fall nature hikes, and evening programs in an amphitheater. The Green River and the Nolin River run through the campground, providing fishing and kayaking opportunities. There are also several trails, including horseback riding trails. It’s the perfect time of year to see acres of autumn leaves, and then enter what’s often been called a “grand, gloomy, and peculiar place”, Mammoth Cave!
STRETCH YOUR LEGS: Some of you Cruisers may already have visited the National Corvette Museum along the route along the I-65 in Bowling Green. But if you haven’t been there in the past few years, there’s a new exhibit you need to explore: The Corvette Cave-In Exhibit. On February 12, 2014, a massive sinkhole swallowed eight Corvettes on display. After the recovery of the smashed cars, the museum not only patched up the hole but made a whole exhibit to the event. You can climb down under the earth to see the repairs, learn about sinkholes in Kentucky, and even see the cars recovered from the deep. Definitely worth sinking an afternoon here.
LEARN MORE:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammoth_Cave_National_Park
https://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm
Comments