Going Back Down - Day 2 at Mammoth Cave

My second tour at Mammoth Cave was the 9:30 a.m. "Domes and Dripstones" tour, which goes through a larger section of cave formations. This also covered the main section that I would have seen on my tour last night - I still got to see it, just didn't get to use my flash.

I got there in plenty of time, so went back into the visitor center to take a few more pictures that I regretted not taking yesterday.

I'm actually going to transcribe the first sign, which turned out quite blurry for some reason.

"THE WORLD'S LONGEST CAVE

Welcome to Mammoth Cave National Park.

With over 400 miles of surveyed passages, the Mammoth Cave landscape shelters a long and complex underground labyrinth. The mysteries of this amazing natural laboratory have inspired and sustained human discovery for thousands of years.

This cave system is truly one of the natural wonders of the world. You are invited to explore the underground grandeur of Mammoth Cave National Park!

The railing continues off into the distance...

"The passageways of Mammoth Cave, the world's longest known cave system, cover hundreds of miles. They don't stretch in one straight line, but intersect and run above and below each other like a big but shallow platter of spaghetti."

This tour did not start at the main entrance, but instead we got on shuttle buses to drive around to another entrance. We walked in for a short distance through some big corridors that were wider than they were tall - but still plenty tall! and then arrived at an area with benches. There were only about half as many people on this tour - but that's still a lot!

Not everyone was happy seeing these stairs.

An odd thing to see underground - phone booth!

The smooth ceiling has been broken by this small formation, said to have been made by fairies.

I was so embarrassed when my flash went off! I had to reset it every time I turned the camera on, and the one time I missed it was when I was taking a picture in everyone's face!

This was what I was trying to do!

I happened to get the ranger's hat exactly flat - you can barely see the brim!

From there we walked a bit further, and then we were in the Frozen Niagara section. We had a little time to take pictures as we were walking through... I was one of the last ones out. It was great.

This is the actual "Frozen Niagara".

Those bumpy formations on the ceiling are known as "cave popcorn"!

Those dark dots are cave crickets, which live near the entrances.

You would NOT expect that door to take you into one of the largest caves in the world!
(I know it's the longest, not sure if it's the largest.)

This was a different entrance than the one we had entered by, but the buses were already waiting for us. It was just a few minutes to get back to the visitor center, and then I changed and headed out on my drive back to Oneida. I stopped for lunch somewhere along the way.

If you're ever driving through Kentucky, check this place out!