The world below...

...below the blue grass of Kentucky, that is.

Our visit to Mammoth Cave National Park was one of the highlights of our trip east last month.

It was difficult to take good pictures there, but we, especially Henry, did manage to get a few shots that might give you an idea of how neat this amazing place is.

All the photos featured in today's post were taken on our long hike through the cave, called the Grand Avenue tour. On our first day in the area, we took the Mammoth Passage tour, a short one that gave us a good introduction to the space. It entered at the historical entrance and we saw some neat geological features, some evidence of historical use of the cave (by prehistoric peoples and for War of 1812 saltpeter mining), and learned some more of its fascinating history.

The next day we were ready for the big time. The Grand Avenue tour takes over four hours, covers four miles, including parts, if not all, of several shorter tours, and provides a good variety of cave scenery.

For example, in the photo on the right, I'm in one of the "canyons" that were my favorite part. Just a few feet wide, these sheer walls climb up a few hundred feet before they reach the "ceiling." On the left is a much more expansive chamber, seen from one of the steeper parts of the trail.

The following picture will give you a good idea of the steepness encountered on this section of the tour. There are 3 or 4 climbs up what were once piles of rubble, but were smoothed over into nice—but strenuous—trails by CCC workers in the 1930's. These industrious workers also provided tourists with the nice handrails like those you can see at the bottom of this shot.

By contrast, the first part mile or so of the hike is the "Grand Avenue" of the tour title, this wide, level, thoroughfare, carved by nothing more than the rushing water of the Echo River, centuries ago.

As I indicated in an earlier post, the history of the Cave is almost as compelling as its subterranean scenery. You can see examples of the history often during the tour, such as this "smoke writing." Earlier generations carried lanterns and candles when touring the Cave, and would sometimes write their names with the soot on the cavern walls. Some of the writing in the picture below was done in 1852:

Nowadays, though, we're lucky to have nicely placed LED lights throughout the cave that illuminate its larger spaces and its tiny treasures, such as the gypsum crystals on the right. This is one of the important mineral riches that might have brought prehistoric hunter-gatherers into the cave. Although our Mammoth Passage guide admitted the experts don't know what they would have done with the substance.

Those lights aren't always on, though, as during a rest stop mid-way through our tour our team of guides turned all the lights off in an area so we'd have an experience of total darkness for a few moments. What a strange sensation! While we sat there, our guide told us a story of a guy who got left behind from a group and accidentally "locked in" over night—in total dark. He apparently kept safe and sane by sitting still and singing every song he knew over and over to himself!

Another surprising detail of the cave, at least near its entrances, is wildlife. Like these cute cave crickets that you see on the left. They were revealed on the dark cave ceiling by our guide's flashlight—a tool that would come in handy should you find yourself locked in!

Mammoth Cave doesn't have the big spectacular rooms of Carlsbad Caverns or its many chambers of massive stalactites, stalagmites*, and draperies. But it does have one nifty room loaded with these neat features—poetically named "Frozen Niagara"—that comes right at the end of the Grand Avenue tour.

At the right are some amazing "drapery" formations in this area. Hard to believe this isn't chocolate frosting, isn't it? Skillfully extruded from some Willy Wonka machine.

Here are a couple of great shots Henry took of the Frozen Niagara area. What a great way to cap off a wonderful tour of this subterranean wonderland.

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*How many times have I tried to find a way to remember which goes up and which goes down? Perhaps the mnemonic our guide gave us on this tour will stick:

• Stalactites hold tight to the top of the cave
• Stalagmites might someday grow to reach the ceiling