We had a long weekend get away to Mammoth Cave National Park. We checked Katie Beth out early on Thursday, at the chagrin of her teacher, so we could get a head start on the drive. The weather was great. Katie Beth thought this was the best cave. She has gone in Ruby Falls, Cathedral Caverns, and other small caves to compare against.
We took the Grand Avenue tour on Friday, which includes the Frozen Niagara route, Domes and Dripstones route and the Snowball route. The gypsum flowers were very cool looking. It is hard to imagine how large the flowers would’ve been before tourism started in the cave and breaking the gypsum off the ceiling.
Our little cabin was nice even if some air conditioning would have been appreciated on some of the nights. But, Katie Beth met other children staying in nearby cabins, which made it fun for her.
On Saturday, we took the simple Mammoth Passage tour into the main entrance of the cave so Katie Beth could get a better understanding of the size of Mammoth Cave and see the saltpeter production artifacts. After the short cave tour, we hiked the River Styx Springs, Echo River Springs, Whites Cave, and Mammoth Dome trails. We saw large numbers of various furry caterpillars along our hike including this Spotted Apatelodes moth caterpillar.
You can see more photos here.