Day 20: To Cave City and Mammoth Cave National Park

September 28, 2014

Up at 7:30, on the road at 9 after a long conversation in the motel breakfast room with a recumbent cyclist from Arizona.

I pedaled north from Glasgow on highway 90. Only about 15 miles to Cave City. Heavy traffic, gently uphill, wide shoulder covered with debris.

Debris covered KY 90 between Glasgow and Cave City.

Late in the morning I got a $50 room at EconoLodge, then pedaled west out of town for an out and back trip to Mammoth Cave National Park.

36th U.S. National Park I have visited during bike tours.

No shoulder now. Some steep grades, mostly uphill.

The park road had the best fall color so far.

At the visitor center I bought a ticket for the 2 hour Domes and Dripstones tour starting at 12:45, then had a quick lunch at the restaurant.

Buy your cave tour tickets here. Then ride a school bus to the entrance.

Mammoth Cave is the world's longest cave, with over 400 miles of mapped passages.

All of the cave tours begin with a ride in a school bus to a remote cave entrance. My tour had 2 busloads of people. We had a 3 mile ride to the entrance.

My tour entered the cave 3 miles away from the visitor center.

The cave tour started with 280 steps downhill. No flash or tripods are allowed. As usual, we spend more time standing and listening to a lecture than we do walking. Consequently you need to dress warmly.

Despite the name Mammoth Cave, most of the cave is actually quite small. It has more miles of mapped passages than any other cave in the world. But no giant rooms like at Carlsbad Caverns. And Mammoth Cave has very few formations because the sandstone roof is water-tight.

During my tour there were many places where it was necessary to bend over to not hit my head. One area is only 4 feet tall for quite some distance. It seems even more confining when you're in a group of 100 people that they try to keep close together.

Stairway that descends to the area with formations.

In many ways it was a relief to get back to the spacious and much warmer surface. High of 80F. Mostly cloudy and very humid. I enjoyed riding through miles of forest in the national park. No houses, no crossroads, commercial vehicles prohibited.

The park campground made me nostalgic for camping for about a minute-until I swatted a mosquito.

You can't escape folk art in Appalachia.

Cave City aspires to be the typical national park gateway town. It has several motels and restaurants and tourist attractions such as a dinosaur park, wax museum, fishing pond, zip line, and a 100+ vendor antique mall. But it's very sleepy and motels are cheap. Full only during summer. Most visitors only spend a few hours in the park, so the gateway town doesn't attract very many multi-day visitors. It's not really a resort area, and there is no nearby metropolitan area to draw from.

Like every proper National Park gateway town, Cave City has a Jellystone RV Park.

Cave City also has a dinosaur park. Not sure if they let visitors feed the dinosaurs.

I returned to the motel at 4 PM, took a short nap, then had dinner at El Patron Mexican restaurant. One of two restaurants that recently started selling beer. I was told that voters approved package beer sales, but it hasn't started yet. That could give the town an economic boost.

Early in the day I debated whether or not to stay in Cave City. The out and back trip means I will ride a hilly 4 mile section of road 3 times. But I decided a short mileage day would be best when combined with a 2-hour cave tour. The easy day helps me recover from yesterday's 80 mile ride and be rested for tomorrow's 80 mile ride.

Distance: 34 mi. (54 km)
Climbing: 1315 ft. (400 m)
Average Speed: 11.6 mph (18.6 km/h)
Walked 1 mi. (1.6 km)

Today's ride: 34 miles (55 km)
Total: 970 miles (1,561 km)

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