Mammoth Caves - Tour 1 Part 1

James and I got up in the morning and happily made our way to book our tours. On the way, I had to grab at least a few pics of the greenery... The main reason I love Kentucky and Tennessee so much is because things there are SO GREEN!
Look! I found a little flower!
And even more greenery! Heck, there's even moss growing on a few of the rocks in the little ravine! Finally, our tour was ready to start. They loaded us up on buses to take us to to New Entrance Tour.
We did not get far before we realized that caves were NOT meant for men as tall as James!!!!
The lady in the purple jacket in this pic turned out to be my first caving budd. She pulled up (ALONE) in her RV at the same time we pulled into the campground on the first night, and we figured out how the camp setup worked together. I was more than happy to see her the next day on our tour!!! She was a riot, and is now one of my heroes. She's been hiking all over the place, in all kinds of exciting places to the west... When mention was made that the caves were explored by volunteers, she was the first to ask "WHERE DO I SIGN UP?!"


Check out this pit!!! Can you believe that this is NOT the place known as the bottomless pit??? HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!! Are the walls not just so beautiful?

This is Colleen, our guide. She ABSOLUTELY ROCKED and we learned so much from her! Did you know that along the hike, you are supposed to avoid touching the rocks whenever possible? The oils and such in our skins can actually change the landscapes of the caves! There were quite a few places where you couldn't help touching the walls as you squeezed through, but for the most part we were an obiedient little group.

At random points along the hike, we saw scenes like this...
We were not comforted by the debris! She told us that the rocks rarely crumble anymore, now that they have settled comfortably. Did you know, also, that earthquakes have only been felt one time in the history of Mammoth Cave? That was umm... a huge earthquake forever and ever ago. Perhaps the New Madrid series of quakes from 1811-1812? But earlier this year, when I was woken up by the bed shaking voilently, they felt nothing in the caves. Evidently, earthquakes are like throwing a rock in a body of water... the deepest ripples are felt at the surface.
The lady in the purple jacket, however, was not convinced... she muttered things like "You can NOT tell me that these rocks are not gonna come down!" I'm sure she felt REAL secure going through this passage...

Next, we went into a section of the caves which are known as the Frozen Niagara. This portion was SO AWESOME, and I took SO MANY PICS, that I am giving it it's own post!