Day 12 – Cave City, KY to Bardstown, KY

Day 12 – Cave City, KY to Bardstown, KY

Tuesday, August 23

Another early start, but this time to beat the rush of people going to Mammoth Caves National Park, [http://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm].   Mammoth Cave National Park preserves the cave system and a part of the Green River valley and hilly country of south central Kentucky. This is the world's longest known cave system, with more than 390 miles explored. Early guide Stephen Bishop called the cave a "grand, gloomy and peculiar place," but its vast chambers and complex labyrinths have earned its name—Mammoth.

By 9:30AM. we are on the bus with 4 others to explore the New Entrance, this part of the 390 mile cave system is 250ft underground and runs for about 3/4 of mile, but one is under ground for about 2+ hours.

Frozen Niagara



In the cave - Frozen Niagara

After lunch it was time to explore cave #2, this one is from the entrance called the "historic entrance", at one time this was the only entrance into the 390 mile cave system, and back in the early 1800's not much was know about how extensive the cave system was, even today it is still being explored.  This section is 300ft down, and will cover about 2 miles of cave tunnels.

The story goes that the cave was found by a hunter chasing a bear into the cave through this entrance, perhaps this is was happened to the hunter (see photo below).

Gypsum on cave ceiling (bear vs man)

Historic Entrance Mammoth Caves

So after spending most of the day underground in dark and tight spaces, it was time to get going, leaving Cave City on I-65 and heading Northeast.  Somewhere we crossed back into Eastern Time and 4pm became 5pm, and our hope of making it to Makers Mark [http://www.makersmark.com/] bourbon distillery before they close was next to impossible, and it was they close at 4:30pm (which I did not know).

However, we did get there at 6pm and got some photos.

Ken at Makers Mark

After Loretto and Makers Mark it was time to head for the overnight stop, Best Western in Bardstown.

Bardstown, KY

If you are ever in this area I would recommend following this trail, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, check out the web site [http://www.kybourbontrail.com/], you will not be dissapointed.