Contact Information
P.O. Box 7
Mammoth Cave, KY 42259
270-758-2328
From the beginning, underground explorers doubted that they would ever find the end of Kentucky's Mammoth Cave. Currently weighing in at 350 miles long and 379 feet deep, Mammoth Cave is known as the longest cave in the world-the Ukrainian cave Optimisticeskaya comes in a distant second at just a quarter of Mammoth's length-and exploration continues on today.In Mammoth's vast subterranean world, there are giant vertical shafts, from the towering 192-foot-high Mammoth Dome to the 105-foot-deep Bottomless Pit. Some passages and rooms are decorated with sparkling white gypsum crystals, while others are filled with the colorful, sculpted shapes of stalactites, stalagmites, and other cave formations. Underground rivers with names like Echo River and the River Styx flow through Mammoth's deepest chambers. And in the cave's absolute blackness dwell many rare and unusual animals, including eyeless fish, ghostly white spiders, and blind beetles. One early visitor recalled his tour of the cave: No ray of light but the glimmer of our lamps; no sound but the echo of our own steps; nothing but darkness, silence, immensity. While most visitors to Mammoth Cave National Park come to view its subterranean wonders, its surface beauty should not be overlooked. Aboveground, Mammoth offers 52,830 acres of scenic parkland perfect for hiking, fishing, paddling, and wildlife viewing-including Big Woods, a 300-acre old-growth forest. Along with the plant and animal life common to an eastern hardwood forest, the park is home to a number of atypical plant communities, which support some rare and endangered species. In 1941 Mammoth Cave National Park was established to preserve its maze of passages, cavernous domes and pits, underground rivers and lakes, unusual animals and plants, beautiful navigable rivers, and rugged topography. Visitors still come by the thousands, drawn by the dark frontier that is Mammoth Cave.
|
|
|
