A treat for speleogists: world's longest cave system - Mammoth Cave National Park 150
What and Why
The Mammoth Cave National Park, containing the same-named cave, is the longest known cave system in the world. The cave system connects two cave systems: the original Mammoth Cave and an even larger Flint Ridge, and forms a humongous cave passageways of more than 686 km, and this number is still growing with new discoveries every year. This connexion was made in the early 1970s CE by a surveying team, when it was found the the larger Flint Ridge actually penetrated into the Mammoth Cave area..
Geologically, the entire cave system developed in thick limestone strata capped by a layer of sandstone, which has made the cave system remarkably stable. Thin, sparse layers of limestone interspersed within the sandstone give rise to an epikarstic zone, where the groundwater would then dissolve the more soluble limestone layers and formed conduits and passages, which formed the current human explorable caves. All these took place 15 million years ago.
Human have been visiting the caves for more than 5,000 years with human remains and burial sites found inside the cave. The entire piece of land was sold by indenture in the late 18th century CE. The cave made its name by becoming a saltpetre (potassium nitrate KNO3) mine: saltpetre was used to make gunpowder when it was lucrative business due to the War of 1812 CE which brought a strong gunpowder demand. After the war ended, the cave was sold and then it was mainly used as a tourist attraction, especially for caving purposes.
As the attraction developed, the then owner Franklin Gorin began employing slaves to explore the caves and mapped them. One of these slaves, Stephen Bishop explored the caves extensively and named many of the rock features. Most importantly he made hand-drawn from memory off-site. His map-drawings were regarded as the authoritative map of the cave until modern technology took over.
Aside from the speleological features, atop and within this labyrinth is a biologically diverse ecosystem inextricably interlinked with the ecosystems underground. The park has cave species and biotic cave communities that are amongst the most diverse in the world. These species can be divided into three types: troglobite (species that spend their life only inside the cave), troglophile (species that live both inside and outside the cave) and trogloxene (species that use the cave as a refuge or shelter only).
Toponymy
The name Mammoth Cave simply refers to the fact that the cave is very large and has nothing to do with the extinct mammoth. In fact no trace or fossil of a mammoth has ever been found near the cave.
The nearest city Brownsville's name is untraceable. There are at least 20 Brownsvilles in America alone, possibly referring to different personalities named Brown.
See
Mammoth Cave
We started the tour from the visitor centre, which is itself a very good museum of the cave. Here it shows a small 3D model of part of the cave.
Inside the cave. Since the cave is so large, there is no way one could explore even a tiny fraction of it. I chose the historic tour, which is the usual classic one and that took me two hours.
One of the most important features of this tour is to see the graffiti written everywhere, especially the cave ceilings by early explorers, especially in an atrium called the Gothic Avenue.
These graffiti include mostly the explorers' names, dates, or sometimes simple messages or graphics. Clearly these 'graffiti' are now seen as a historic monument and cultural heritage. Nowadays any graffiti is prohibited. So I asked the question, when and how would graffiti be defined as historic and preservable?
The dominant ceiling graffiti were all made by a torch. Early explorers brought a large torch for lighting and they used the candle flames and soot to make their mark, and as a result most of the graffiti were high up in the ceiling instead of on the walls. Moreover before the invention of the light bulb the caves were literally pitch black and the most lit area was actually the ceiling.
Of course there are occasional scratch marks as graffiti as well.
As we explored deeper inside some of the smoke signatures were made in an interesting mirror image. It was that the explorers became tired of holding up the torch and so they found a better way to draw and view the graffiti. They would hold up the pole, but put a mirror on the ground to view while they drew on the ceiling. This was also done to prevent the candle wax to drop onto one's face when holding the pole. Because they were looking at the mirror, the writing became reversed.
Naturally the most frequently encountered and notable signatures is that of Bishop's, where he led tours or made significant discoveries.
Somewhere along one of the passageway one finds a solid rock house as above. In 1839 CE, John Croghan bought the Mammoth Cave Estate, including Bishop and its other slaves from Gorin. Croghan briefly ran an ill-fated tuberculosis hospital in the cave during the time, believing that the air inside the cave is clean and would cure his patients. He used this particular rock house as the main ward.
This rock house was however not constructed by Croghan, instead it had been there since the beginning of 19th century CE, most likely as a shelter for explorers or miners. The stones are dry-stacked, meaning they are placed without any use of mortar, which showcases the building skills of the time.
Near the end of the journey, one is shown the famous Bottomless Pit. The Bottomless Pit is a notable feature that, despite its name, is of course not bottomless. The pit is actually 32 m deep, but since it is always pitch-dark, it gives a dramatic impression, especially to early explorers who were unable to see the bottom with their limited light sources, an illusion of a bottomless chasm. It was discovered in early 19th century CE and apparently Bishop was the first to cross the pit.
This is the current extent of the Mammoth Cave system, covering nearly 700 km of passageways in an area of more than 200 km2. There is also various other tours which includes an underground river ride, but we did not manage to take that.
Eat and Drink
I had a dinner at this local eatery called 5 Broke Girls near Horse Cave. Simple, honest comfort food with a decent online review. I am not sure if they are really that broke as the restaurant seems pretty popular. I did meet two of the five broke girls though.
Stay
I stayed in Quality Inn and Suites at Horse Cave. Other than being cheap with a decent breakfast, nothing to shout about. The inn looks like a typical scene set in a horror murder movie.
Getting There and Around
Mammoth Cave is not conveniently located and typically one has to drive. In fact you cannot even find a taxi around.
There is no entrance fee to the park, but one has to pay for the guided cave tour, which is around USD $15. The caves are not accessible without a guide. Clearly the cave are not disabled-accessible as it requires some climbing, ducking and crawling, depending on which tour one joins.
UNESCO Inscription
Mammoth Cave National Park, located in the state of Kentucky, has the world's largest network of natural caves and underground passageways, which are characteristic examples of limestone formations. The park and its underground network of more than 560 surveyed km of passageways are home to a varied flora and fauna, including a number of endangered species.
References
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