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My friend Johnny from Tupelo, MS, met
me in Mammoth Cave, KY, on
Memorial Day Weekend.
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One of the places that we felt we had to
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-----I will henceforth call it our "hellhole away
from home"! What a horrible place to
stay--mold, mildew, roaches...
What were we thinking! This was by far
the worst part of the trip!
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-----Johnny actually took photos of the
inside of our wigwam: I want my
memories to die rather than relive them.
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After finally sleeping a little bit,
we headed to the national park
on Saturday morning. I was
SOOOOOOOOOOO
happy to be out of the wigwam!
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-----I made a ton of photos inside the caves,
but the lighting was so poor that
I only escaped with the two that follow
even though we experienced the
Mammoth Passage Tour,
the Snowball Tour and the New Entrance Tour.
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-----The caves were, of course, spectacular!
Quite unlike any other cave I've ever
experienced and much more expansive!
The photos above and below show
what's left of the gypsum within the caves.
Early explorers removed vast quantities.
The gypsum that wasn't raped by
hand was tainted by the coal-oil
lanterns used by tour guides to
provide illumination for their tourists.
This gypsum should be snow white.
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-----At the end of the day, we had this sunset.
Too bad I have to go from here into
that terrible teepee...
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-----On Sunday morning, Mother Nature
decided to send us some rain.
Johnny decided to sleep in,
but all I could think about were the
million other places I'd rather be
than that wigwam. I decided
to take an early morning hike
at the park and meet up with
Johnny later in the day.
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-----The deer above and the tulip tree blossom
below were two of the things that
greeted me when I arrived at the park.
(Now isn't this better than sharing a
bed with cockroaches?!?)
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-----Because of the drizzly weather,
several of my photos didn't turn out.
(The photos are not as crisp in low lighting.)
Even some of the shots below are
not great photographs, but they are good
ways to rekindle memories.
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-----I loved seeing this mountain laurel.
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-----I don't know what these weeds are,
but they provided some stark white
to the greens and browns.
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-----This snail was one of the best parts
of my trip. I almost stepped on him
as he was crossing the path.
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-----I determined to take this trail near
the visitor's center.
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-----I have dubbed this photo "Sacrifice."
One tree fell into another.
As a result, the second tree died,
but the one who lost his footing
survived. Reminds me of
me and Jesus...
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-----This was my first view of the
Green River, the body of water
responsible for Mammoth Cave.
I love the way the mist gathered
around the knobs.
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-----This tree is unusual. It looks perched
on this boulder, but its roots
actually run laterally back into
the hillside.
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-----I spied this faint pink wild rose
growing off the trail.
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-----Finally, I met back up with Johnny,
and we had breakfast at this
little diner in Cave City.
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-----He and I went back to the park
and set out on another excursion.
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These ferns are incredible!
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-----This trail took us to the banks
of the Green River.
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-----Some of the photos below show
spots where the water escapes from
the cave system through springs.
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-----I don't know what this is, but
the yellow was such a stark contrast
to the deep green.
I love this photo.
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-----Another spotting of deer...
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-----Our best viewing was a little later
in the day when we saw a doe and
two of her fawn skip across the trail,
but I didn't have my camera ready
for that shot...
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Johnny spied this bird in the bushes,
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-----The hills in this part of Kentucky are
called knobs while, due to the
incalculable number of caves underground,
this hole is called a sink.
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-----Another spring from the cave
system feeding the Green River...
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-----We came to Green River ferry crossing
and turned back toward park headquarters.
We will cross this later today.
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-----Back on the trail, these
cool boulders show off
their mossy haircuts.
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-----This tiny plant is about
the size of my hand.
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-----It grows to about 5 1/2 feet in height...
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-----....and then blooms!
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-----Don't ask me: I don't know.
But isn't it beautiful!?!
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-----I think this photo is a great
example of overcoming huge
obstacles in our path.
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-----Johnny heads up to explore
this opening...
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-----Another sink...
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-----A view back down into the valley
of the Green River...
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-----Back in my car,
we're heading deeper into
the park and around it.
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-----Utilizing the ferry...
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-----We decided that, since many of the trails
in the park system (other than the ones
near the park headquarters) were horse
trails that we would check out some
places that didn't require us to
watch our step for manure.
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This is the Nolan River Dam area.
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-----I must admit that, while I can
appreciate man's ingenuity,
I don't like its distraction
from God's creation.
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-----Wow! A may-apple!
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-----Johnny and I had a great Sunday buffet
in a little town called Brownsville.
Just as country as Mississippi!
As you can imagine, the food
was fattening and delicious!
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-----We made one final stop at
Sloan's Crossing Pond Walk.
With a little shower of rain,
the scenery was breathtaking!
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-----Slipping out of the park proper,
we found this weird ruins
in Park City, I think...
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-----There were many other
wonderful adventures that weren't
captured on film.
I suppose I'll just have to use
my memory to enjoy them...
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