Mammoth Cave National Park, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, USA
This is the longest recorded cave system in the world with more than 400 miles explored and mapped.
Mammoth Cave National Park: 1 Mammoth Cave Pkwy, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, USA
Rolling hills, deep river valleys, and the worlds longest known cave system. Mammoth Cave National Park is home to thousands of years of human history and a rich diversity of plant and animal life, earning it the title of UNESCO World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve.
The visitor center.
The cave tour group. The entrance to the cave is about 1/4 mile from the visitor center.
The Mammoth cave entrance.
It was too dark to take photos.
The photo is hard to see, but it was the largest cave I ever went into.
More walking. This tour is about two miles hike in the cave, for a total of two hours, including the guide talking.
Now it gets narrower
Low ceiling
Narrow passage
Benches in the cave
It is time to go up to the ground
More stairs for going up
Came back near where the tour started – the tour circles around the cave and returns to where it started – it does not retrace the same path. The cave is 400 miles long, so the tour only covers a tiny portion of the cave system.
Panoramic view of the place. It was the largest cave area on tour.
Walking back to the entrance
Looking back
Walking forward
Looking back again
Walking forward again
Three hundred thirty million years ago, this place was a seashore. During that time, sandstones and limestones were formed in this area because they are usually formed on sea shores.
Looking back
The visitor center has a small exhibit explaining how the cave was formed.
The yellow jiggles are the cave networks.
The cave networks near the visitor center
The Mammoth cave is formed when water on the ground enters the underground through sandstones and melts limestones below. The water dissolve limestone but not sandstones.
What is unique here in Kentucky is that the sandstones are on top of the limestones.
Water on the ground enters the underground through sinkholes.
This funny-looking house is in front of where I am staying.
