Happy National Park Week! This week is America's largest celebration of national heritage; it’s
about exploring amazing places, discovering open spaces and honoring the national
parks that make America great! From April 16-24th every national
park will give you free admission, so get out there and find your park!
In
honor of National Park week I’ll be blogging about some of the Parks we’ve recently
visited as a family, wrapping up our spring break trip to Mammoth Cave
National Park. Famous for over than 400 miles of explored tunnels, Mammoth Cave
is the longest known cave system – but that’s not all that’s there! Although we
did descend down into the cave through the Historic Entrance on the Discovery Tour, we spent most of
our time in the Park exploring above ground. Spring is the perfect time to
visit as dozens of species of wildflowers are adorning the forest floor, and
temperatures are mild allowing comfortable adventuring of one of Mammoth Cave’s
50 trails totaling over 80 miles of hiking.
Continuing on the Dixon Cave trail from the Historic Entrance |
Our
first taste of Mammoth Cave was the area around the Historic Entrance and the
Visitor Center. We hiked a portion of the Green River Bluffs trail, the Dixon
Cave trail, the Sunset Point trail and the Heritage trail, making a big loop
down to the Green River and then back up. Leaving the crowds behind at the
Historic Entrance we headed north on the Dixon Cave trail, 0.4 miles to reach
what used to be a part of Mammoth Cave – perhaps a million years ago. The one
cave became two when a sinkhole collapse cut Dixon off from Mammoth, creating
the Historic Entrance. Endangered Indiana and gray bats use Dixon Cave, and so
it’s gated off and shouldn’t be approached due to the threat of spreading
deadly white-nose syndrome.
From
Dixon Cave it’s an easy 0.1 miles back up to the paved picnic area loops where
hikers can tie into one end of the Green River Bluffs trail. We elected to cut out
a portion of the 1.3 mile trail and took the shortcut to the middle of the
trail where we were rewarded with scenic views of the Green River from high on
the bluffs.
After a
swift descent to the river we were able to explore a sandy beach just opposite
Cave Island. Large amounts of Tiger swallowtail butterflies had congregated
here, and while I watched and photographed them the boys took turns throwing
stones into the river.
The coves
down adjacent to the Green River contained some enormous trees; the sycamores and
beeches were each more massive and impressive then the last, colossal trunks
supporting immense canopies that had just begun budding on our visit.
Soon
we reached the mouth of the River Styx where there used to be an old riverboat
landing. As the river was replaced as a means of transporting large loads by the
railroad, steamboats took over touring the Green River, offering cruises
complete with musicians, fine dining, traveling shows and circuses. We turned
inland on the 0.4 mile River Styx boardwalk which leads to the point where the
River Styx emerges above-ground for a short trip to empty into the Green River.
A
short climb on the Echo River Spring trail brought us to the 0.3 mile Sunset
Point trail which took us up the steep bluffs through a series of switchbacks.
It was here that the boys encountered their third deer, eliciting a few screams
as it crashed across the trail just as they had rounded a corner out of our
line of sight – affecting a few more gray hairs before we learned the reason
for their shrieks.
Sunset
Point might provide a scenic viewpoint of the sun setting over the river;
however it was more convenient as a rest point after a steep climb even as the
shadows lengthened. The boys used the opportunity to continue work on their
Junior Ranger Adventure books, the effort rewarded the following day when they
received their hard-earned badges at the Visitor Center.
From
Sunset Point we followed the half-mile paved Heritage loop past the Mammoth Cave
Hotel back to the Visitor Center. Our loop totaled about 1.5 miles, but as it
included several steep portions it was a challenging, rewarding hike. By
including the entire Green River Bluffs trail it could easily be extended to 2
miles, and by adding loops to Dome Sink, Echo River and White Cave one could
easily incorporate 4-5 miles of trail into their itinerary.
The view from Sunset Point |
It
seemed easy to separate our visit to Mammoth Cave into two parts; the descent
into the underground world of the cave system, and the above-ground realm of
rivers, forests and wildflowers. However, in reality these are two parts of a
greater whole (hole!), unified by the various forces of nature that continue to
form the caves and shape the landscape of this one ecosystem linked by water.
With a wide variety of tours, trails and adventures awaiting, Mammoth Cave
National Park is deserving of the title of World Heritage Site and should be
included on your quest to find your
park.
Gorgeous. I think I mentioned that we went to Mammoth Cave ONCE in about 2001.. We didn't stay long and didn't do any other hiking... Looks like we need to go back.
ReplyDeleteI published a blog post today --so check it out when you have time.
Hugs,
Betsy
OOPS---I see that you have visited my blog. YES---that covered bridge is really neat --and so close to the Parkway in Sevierville.
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