Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is the world's longest cave with over 450 miles mapped. 

It was fun to see how much we all remember about caves from our visits to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and Wind Cave in South Dakota. 

We had a fun little hike before touring the cave. 

Fun find: caterpillar or centipede?

Being funny in the beautiful forest. 

Dixon cave entrance

River Styx Spring

Here we go!

Because of the geology of this cave there are far less formations (stalactites, stalagmites, flow stone and such) than we've seen in other caves. 

During the War of 1812, when the British cut us off from the rest of the world, we mined saltpetre (potassium nitrate) from Mammoth Cave dirt to make 1/3 of our gunpowder. 

After the war, the mine was quickly abandoned as importing gun powder was far cheaper. 

The cave was also used to treat tuberculosis patients for a while, but we now know that the cold cave air (54° year-round) would not help with TB. Ironically, the proprietor of the TB treatments in the cave later died of TB. 

The rotunda is the largest room near the entrance. 

Sy got a ride out!

But once out, he returned the favor. (:

Kik taking photos. 

This map shows in yellow the mapped portions of the cave.