Mammoth Cave
Our next "Big Cave" stop took us to western Kentucky and Mammoth Cave National Park. Like Carlsbad Caverns, Mammoth is one of America's premier caves. Mammoth's claim to fame is that it is the longest cave in the United States. Although not quite as stunning as Carlsbad, due to a lack of stalactites and stalagmites, it definitely impresses with its endless array of tunnel walkways, vast gloomy expanses, and smooth high ceilings. According to national park literature, "With its 53,000 surface acres and underlying cave ecosystem, Mammoth Cave National Park is recognized as an international treasure." As this implies, there's much more to the park than just the cave, and the area boasts its fair share of surface natural wonders, scenic drives, hiking trails, bicycling opportunities, boating, canoeing, fishing, and even one-hour boat cruises aboard "Miss Green River II."
While touring the Mammoth Cave National Park area, we stayed at the Horse Cave KOA, a picturesque campground located not far from the National Park. | 
Abraham Lincoln's birthplace includes this monument. Inside, on the exact spot where Abe was born, is a cabin that was built the same time as Lincoln's. | |
Like Carlsbad Caverns, there are a number of different tours available inside the cave, ranging from one-hour walks, to full-day cave spelunking adventures. Extremely popular during the summer, visitors need to plan a cave trip well in advance because tours quickly fill up. We elected to go on a two-hour ranger-led trip through the cave, which involved two miles of walking and negotiating over 300 steps. Although we preferred Carlsbad Caverns overall, Mammoth was definitely a cave that awed the senses, and we'll be sure to return for another cave adventure.
While in the Mammoth Cave area, we also visited some nearby notable sights, namely Abraham Lincoln's birthplace, Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home," the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, and toured two of Kentucky's premier bourbon distilleries: Jim Beam and Maker's Mark. This area also boasts almost an endless variety of other impressive caves, and we took the opportunity to visit two of the best: Lost River Cave and Diamond Caverns. During our stay, we camped at the picturesque KOA campground in the town of Horse Cave, which is conveniently located near Mammoth Cave National Park, and the area even boasts its own impressive cavern.
With the Big Cave tour at its end, we pointed the nose of our F-250 Power Stroke eastward and continued our adventures. Some of those trips will be covered in later issues of Diesel Power. Until then, we'll look back at our cavern adventures as one of the best "shot in the dark" we've ever experienced.