Mammoth Cave National Park - Discovery Tour

We drove east across southern Missouri, eventually dipping into the very southern tip of Illinois for about 5 minutes before crossing over the Ohio River into the state of Kentucky. Unfortunately our travel intenerary didn't include any of these exciting tourist activities near Paducah.



A few hours later we finally made it to our destination - Mammoth Cave National Park. The National Park protects Mammoth Cave, which is the longest cave system in the world. There are over 400 miles of surveyed passageways, and as many as 300 more miles that have not yet been explored. The cave has been designated a World Heritage Site, an International Biosphere Reserve and an International Dark Sky Park.

To actually enter the cave you need to be on one of the official tours provided by the National Park Service. We signed up to do three tours during our visit, and the first was the Discovery Tour. This is a short self-guided tour, which starts by taking a flight of stairs down into the Historic Entrance of the cave. This natural opening has been used by visitors dating back thousands of years (I was kinda disappointed that you didn't enter the cave by sliding down fireman poles, like Batman and Robin used to get into the Batcave in the old TV show).



Once you enter the cave it quickly gets dark and cold (the temperature inside the cave is 54 degrees).



Inside the cave are two memorials dedicated to those who lost their lives during World War I.



The cave here looks like a massive tunnel going deep underground, as if carved by the dwarves in Lord of the Rings.



It wasn't all that easy to get pictures inside the cave. It is pretty dark in there (obviously), and tripods aren't allowed. I tried taking pictures with my camera, but most of them turned out blurry. I ended up having better luck using my cell phone camera during the trip.





The Discovery Tour is short, only about a half-mile into the cave. There are a few artifacts on display, and some information signs to peruse. And if you have any questions, there's a few park rangers there to answer any questions (they said they love answering questions because that beats just sitting around in the dark). We turned around and headed back into the bright daylight outside.



We had another tour scheduled for later that day, so to kill some time we did the short hike to the Styx Spring. We arrived to find the spring was flooded, thanks to some recent heavy rains.



Next to the spring were some massive trees, so this was the view looking up:



I was pleasantly surprised to see so many hiking trails above the ground at Mammoth Cave, it was a nice and pleasant place to walk about.

Wiley's Cove

Last week, Jonah and I headed out on a little road trip to visit a nearby National Park. But first we needed to drive up to Missouri to meet up with my Aunt, my cousin, and my nephew, who all were kind enough to join us on the trip.

We drove up Hwy. 65, which runs from Conway north through the Ozark Mountains. One of the landmarks along that drive is the Wiley's Cove Ranch barn, a cool old barn that has been painted a bright red. It's a neat place to stop and stretch your legs, and also take a few pictures.







I'm assuming that the Wiley that the Ranch is named after is, of course, Wile Coyote. Which means that the barn is probably used to store a bunch of Acme products.

Fern Falls

After getting a late lunch at the Ozark Cafe we then headed over to Fern Falls, which is a scenic little waterfall just off of Hwy. 7. The hike isn't too long, but after all the rain it was mostly underwater. There was so much water on the trail that it was like hiking through a creek.

And if there was that much water on the trail, it was safe to assume there would be a lot of water at the falls. And there was - it was practically flooded. We followed the trail as it turned and ran beneath the falls, where a bunch of ferns were growing (hence the name Fern Falls).



The falls are 42 feet-tall, and they were pouring over the bluff with a roar.



For a bit of a comparison, this is what the falls looked like the last time I was here:



The last time I was here was in the winter, so it was cool to see all the ferns growing around the falls. Here's one more shot of the eponymous ferns, with a prime location right below the waterfall.



And one last shot of Fern Falls, taken from the top:

Down To The River

We headed down the mountain into Boxley Valley. I resisted the urge to stop at every old barn to get pictures, since I was just here a few weeks ago. But we did make one quick stop at the old springhouse, which had a bit of water tumbling down beside it.



And then we headed to the Steele Creek access along the Buffalo. After really heavy rains, there are two waterfalls that pour over Roark Bluff. They are about 200 feet tall, and are among the tallest waterfalls in the state (when they're going). I tried to get a few pictures, but the polarizing filter was wet. I took it off the lens to try to dry it, but my shirt was still completely soaked after our hike that I accomplished nothing but just smearing the water around on the glass. As I was fumbling with the filter, it slipped from my fingers and dropped with a little *plonk* into the muddy and murky waters of the river. Whoops.

Marty's Falls

It absolutely stormed over Memorial Day weekend, which isn't great if you're planning a cookout but is awesome if you like waterfalls. Luckily I was able to get up to the Ozarks on Sunday to meet up with my friend Zack, and a little group of us headed off to see a few waterfalls. The first one is called Marty's Falls, which sits just within the boundaries of the Smith Creek Nature Preserve near the Buffalo National River. It had been raining all day, but when we started the hike it started to storm. There was heavy rain, and some lightning and thunder that sounded uncomfortably close. Of course I forgot a rain jacket so I was thoroughly soaked by the time we reached the falls.

There is a nice little shelter under the bluff, behind the falls. Which came in handy because we actually used it to take shelter while the storm raged on.



And the shelter was large enough that there was plenty of room to take pictures from several different angles without having to worry about the camera getting drenched.



The falls are named after Marty Roenigk, who along with his wife donated this land to the Nature Conservancy (QuiVala Elise falls is named after her).



Just down the stream was another waterfall, which seemed to be flowing out from under a huge rock.



As far as I know, these falls are unnamed. But I think they should be called McFly Falls, in honor of another famous Marty.



We were going to hike along Smith Creek while we were there, but the creek became flooded after the storms. So we headed out to visit a few other waterfalls instead...