Mammoth Cave
Fifty years ago, while on a trip with Jim Ritchie, we visited Mammoth Cave NP. Sue had never seen it and the cave must have changed a lot in fifty years (
Things have changed. Don’t remember much about the campground from fifty years ago (other than we had a large message posted on board when we checked in to call home – scheduling info.) but the campground now is very nice. Large, level spaces with room between sites. Primitive camping but that is not a problem with a full sized RV. Very quiet and dark at night. Nice.
The visitor center is modern and informative and there are rangers everywhere. Tour guides, info., tour sales, naturalists, other specialties, etc.
There are a number of tours available to different parts of the cave. Opted to take Historic Tour as I was pretty sure that was what Jim and I did. Tour has changed. Fifty years ago the group size was relatively small and as I remember lasted nearly four hours with lots of stops for information. Today this tour is still the longest offered but is two hours and covers about two miles with a third of it being above ground going to and leaving cave. Tour group size has also changed. Up to 150 people per tour. Moving that many people through the cave on schedule doesn’t leave much time for stops with cave info. There were some but also a lot of hustle. Also, several elements that I remember from last visit are not included now. Good tour but we have been on better in other caves.
Entrance to cave
Called Bottomless Pit – 110 feet from grate to bottom.
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