A Mammoth Drive (Mammoth Cave)

Took about 10 hours to drive from home to Cave City, Kentucky. Rolled into town pretty late, hit the sack - then rolled out of bed at 8am Sunday Morning (ok, it was central time - so it was really 9 am at home).

The "tee time" for the Grand Avenue Tour of Mammoth Cave started at 11:15am. Arrived at the entrance early, and tried to move the tour time up to a 10:00 - but it was sold out. Good idea to purchase tickets online early - since both times (and only times) were not available the day of tour.



The Grand Avenue Tour is a 4 1/2 hour tour that covers over 4 miles of Mammoth Cave. The tour begins at Carmichael Entrance:



The Grand Avenue Tour combines many smaller tours into one. From Carmichael Entrance, the group moved through Cleveland Avenue to the Snowball Room (Snowball due to the Gypsum "snowball" effect on the ceiling). The Snowball Room is ~1 mile from the entrance, and is the first stop of the tour. The group gets a restroom break, and grabs a quick lunch. Boxed lunches were available, but we packed a lunch (in Clear Plastic Ziplock) and it was better than waiting in line for a sammich. This 1 mile was easy walking, and fairly wide open.

After chowing on some lunch, the group went through Mary's Vineyard passage to Boone Avenue, ending up at Thorpe's Pit. Next was Alice's Grotto and the Kentucky Avenue Passageway. A big upward trek led to Mount McKinley and the final set of restrooms. This portion of the trip had some good tight areas:


THE HOME STRETCH!!!

The final portion of the tour leads through the Grand Canyon, Kentucky Avenue (including the Aero Bridge section), Grand Central Station, The Frozen Niagra, and then to daylight at the Frozen Niagra Entrance.

The Frozen Niagra Area is a fantastic sight.






Pictures never do justice!

Anywho...

The best tour is the "wild cave tour", but it is not for the faint of heart. The tour is 6 1/2 hours long, and involves crawling through areas <42" in diameter - and being hunched over and getting very dirty and wet. I did this tour a looong time ago - and would love to do it again. Second best is the Grand Avenue tour. The next tour I would like to take would be the Historic Tour. The "Historic Tour" was not available..

Off to Tennessee!