On Sunday, our original plan was to drive directly to Chattanooga from Louisville. However, Henry and I got to talking about all the caves in the southern Kentucky area. He had noticed various signs for them along the way. Of course, Mammoth Cave is probably the best known, and since I'd never been there myself, we decided to stop for a visit. This was Henry's first-ever spelunking experience.
The cave is not as beautiful as others I've seen, such as Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico) or Jewel Cave (South Dakota), yet it is fascinating for its history and for the fact that it earns its name. There are over 400 miles of known passages in the cave. We walked about two miles of it and were in the cave for about two hours, entering through its historically most popular entrance (there are 27 known entrances, as I recall). Shortly after entering, the guide told us about the salt peter mining that was once done inside the cave. This photograph shows one mining location and is where I took my first photograph of Henry inside.
We were as far below the surface as 310 feet and had lots of steps both down and back up. Though I didn't get a picture, we managed to work our way through some very tight places, including "Fat Man's Misery" and "Tall Man's Misery."
Early visitors in the 1800s used candles to make their graffiti. This spot was interesting, showing an elaborate name, address and date. I believe it was a Lewis from Farmington, Connecticut in 1839.
Here is the historic entrance as we approached it at the end of our tour.
After the cave, we drove on to Chattanooga, where we checked into the Choo Choo Hotel, but more on that later.
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