Monday, May 4, 2009
Singing Hills RV Park, Cave City, KY: Apr 1-4
We decided that since we were so close to Mammoth Cave, we should check it out to see how it compares with Carlsbad Caverns. We chose this campground because it is Passport America, and would certainly recommend it to anyone planning to be in the area. The owners purchased the park fairly recently and are doing a good job of refurbishing it. This area suffered a lot of damage from the ice storm, and some of the sites were pretty muddy, but ours stayed fairly dry even though it rained most of the time we were here. Cave City is one of those tacky little towns with mini-golf & water parks that always spring up next to national parks.
Mammoth Cave was a bit of a disappointment. It is certainly mammoth, carved by underground streams & rivers over millions of years, but most of it is fairly smooth rock walls with few formations. I guess we were wrong to even compare it with Carlsbad, since it is entirely different. In Carlsbad Caverns you are free to stroll around at your own pace with no one else around. When we visited Wind & Jewel Caves last year, we were disappointed to learn that the only way to see them was on a ranger-led tour. Mammoth Cave unfortunately has the same arrangement. There is one self-guided tour that goes in the historic entrance for about half a mile, but it is not always offered, and it is not at all visually appealing -- just mammoth. We went on two ranger-led tours, each had over 120 people on it. We always seemed to get stuck near crying children, so there was no hope of hearing what the ranger was saying, even if we happened to be within earshot.
On our last day we visited Diamond Caverns, a privately-owned cave which has a reciprocal arrangement with Mammoth and is generally acknowledged as the most beautiful cave in the area. We were not disappointed. The half-mile tour passed some of the nicest formations we have seen -- we would definitely recommend this tour to anyone. Diamond also shows evidence of the infamous "Cave Wars" of the 1920s. The whole area is pockmarked with thousands of caves, and various cave owners, trying to boost their business & hurt others, would pay individuals to hide overnight in a rival cave and break off formations in the cave. They would then sell the formations in their own shops, doubly benefiting from the vandalism.
Mammoth Cave was a bit of a disappointment. It is certainly mammoth, carved by underground streams & rivers over millions of years, but most of it is fairly smooth rock walls with few formations. I guess we were wrong to even compare it with Carlsbad, since it is entirely different. In Carlsbad Caverns you are free to stroll around at your own pace with no one else around. When we visited Wind & Jewel Caves last year, we were disappointed to learn that the only way to see them was on a ranger-led tour. Mammoth Cave unfortunately has the same arrangement. There is one self-guided tour that goes in the historic entrance for about half a mile, but it is not always offered, and it is not at all visually appealing -- just mammoth. We went on two ranger-led tours, each had over 120 people on it. We always seemed to get stuck near crying children, so there was no hope of hearing what the ranger was saying, even if we happened to be within earshot.
On our last day we visited Diamond Caverns, a privately-owned cave which has a reciprocal arrangement with Mammoth and is generally acknowledged as the most beautiful cave in the area. We were not disappointed. The half-mile tour passed some of the nicest formations we have seen -- we would definitely recommend this tour to anyone. Diamond also shows evidence of the infamous "Cave Wars" of the 1920s. The whole area is pockmarked with thousands of caves, and various cave owners, trying to boost their business & hurt others, would pay individuals to hide overnight in a rival cave and break off formations in the cave. They would then sell the formations in their own shops, doubly benefiting from the vandalism.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 10:07 PM 
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