0:00

When most people think of Kentucky, what do

0:02

they think of Bourbon Horse Races

0:04

KFC? All true, all

0:07

fitting, But how about

0:09

the largest cave system in the world. Even

0:11

crazier is the history behind Mammoth Cave

0:14

National Park, which is not only the longest

0:16

cave on Earth by a long shot,

0:18

but all the weird and wild different ways

0:20

the cave has been used over the years. Yes,

0:22

weird and wild is definitely an accurate description,

0:25

and I can't wait to explore all of it

0:27

in this week's episode on This Kentucky

0:30

Park. Hi,

0:33

I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is part Glandia

0:35

production of I Heart Radio. We packed

0:38

up are loft in Chicago, moved into

0:40

an r V, and now we're traveling in the country exploring

0:42

America's national parks with our dog Finn.

0:46

Today's episode is about Mammoth Cave National

0:48

Park in southern Kentucky. History.

0:55

Now, the first thing I want to talk about are these

0:57

impressive stats. Mammoth Cave consists

1:00

of more than four hundred miles of mapped

1:02

cave, making it the longest cave in

1:04

the world, and it blows the competition

1:06

straight out of the water. Yeah, I mean, I I

1:08

don't want to turn this thing into like a competition or

1:10

anything, but that's exactly what I'm going to

1:12

do. The second longest cave in the world,

1:15

it's systema sac Actomb

1:17

in Mexico, and it's nearly

1:19

half the sizes of Mammoth Cave. Granted,

1:21

still a two hundred something mile cave. It's nothing

1:23

to sneeze app but it's no Mammoth Cave.

1:26

And even more impressive is the fact that theogy

1:28

geologists are discovering and mapping

1:31

more miles there every single

1:33

year. Um, they're estimating that there

1:35

could be as much as six hundred more miles

1:37

yet to be discovered. That's crazy that I'm

1:40

overwhelmed just thinking about that, Like where

1:42

does it end? Is the whole world just sitting

1:44

above Mammoth Cave? Like is it under us right

1:46

now? I'm kind of kind of

1:48

unnerved something.

1:51

Um, this huge takes a long time to

1:53

explore, no doubt about that. But

1:56

it all started a few thousand years ago and

1:58

Native Americans in Kentucky discovered

2:00

the area and they started to explore

2:02

the cave and in a search for

2:04

like minerals, right, so

2:07

they were initially on the hunt for things like gypsum

2:10

and mara apolite. And we know they

2:12

maintained some presence here for at least

2:14

a couple of thousand years because of the artifacts

2:16

and petroglyphs they left behind, including some

2:18

primative class and things like utensils.

2:21

You know what the else they left behind, what

2:24

their own skeletons. Don't don't do

2:26

it. I'm going to remain calm right now, but

2:30

inside I'm screaming. Yeah,

2:32

due to the fact that the cave is like this um

2:35

they maintain a consistent level of temperature

2:37

about fifty four degrees and the constant

2:40

humidity. It's like this prime environment

2:42

preserving human bones and

2:44

mummies. I

2:46

mean, is this like a

2:48

park Landy episode or an episode of Are

2:50

You Afraid of the Dark? Because I am

2:53

afraid of the dark and I'm afraid of skeletons,

2:55

and this is terrifying. But

2:58

after some two thousand years of occupation an exploration,

3:01

most Native Americans abandoned the caves.

3:03

And I mean, I get it, I would too if they

3:05

were like literal mummies, student all over the place

3:07

and pinned under rocks like something

3:10

out of a nightmare. Yeah. And another

3:12

interesting mystery is that no one really knows

3:14

what they were using these minerals for

3:16

and why they were clearly so important for such a

3:18

long time. Yeah, something tells

3:21

me they weren't using the minerals to make moot

3:23

rings or anything like that, especially since I

3:25

assumed the primary mood would just be

3:27

constant fear, probably like a

3:30

visceral primal terror at

3:32

all times. But that's just me. Yeah.

3:36

Enough, the cave just sat pretty much empty

3:38

and unexplored for a couple of millennia before

3:40

it was even discovered again by a hunter, John

3:43

hutchins Um. As the story

3:45

goes, he had had shot and

3:47

injured a black bear and then led him into the cave's

3:49

entrance. Yeah. I definitely don't

3:52

approve of the bear hunting, but otherwise

3:54

that that really is a fascinating story. It's like a

3:56

violent fairy tale or something. I just

3:58

love how with cave in general

4:01

has so much like mythical, scary miss

4:03

like mysterious history attached to

4:05

it. It's really kind of incredible.

4:08

Yew Then things really start to get even weirder

4:10

and wilder. Humans started

4:12

to use the caves for all different

4:14

purposes. Yeah, they really did. Emth

4:17

cave actually played a role in the War of

4:19

eighteen twelve. Shockingly enough, when

4:22

British troops cut off gunpowder supplies in

4:24

the East, Americans retreated to the huge

4:26

cave to mind calcium nitrate

4:29

and create their own gunpowder. And

4:31

since there's basically a limitless supply of

4:33

that stuff here, it enabled the American army

4:35

to significantly increase their arms in

4:37

the war, which is wild. I

4:39

mean, the manth Cave like played a

4:41

role in the War of eighteen twelve. Yeah, that's just absolutely

4:44

insane. Guess what else people usually

4:46

cave for. Well, if I

4:49

didn't actually know the answer to that, I

4:51

would say something like mummy museum or like

4:53

subterranean Bourbon distillery. But I

4:55

do know the answer to that, so I'm

4:58

just going to point out that Mammoth Cave has

5:00

been used as a church and even

5:02

as a tuberculosis treatment center. Again

5:05

wild, weird, what the hell?

5:08

Because can you imagine going to like a church

5:10

in a cave, or like getting medical

5:12

treatment here, like, oh, I'm gonna go like

5:15

get my shots, get my flu shots and Mammoth

5:17

Cave. Yeah, but thenk goodness, Like, unsurprisingly,

5:20

neither of these things lasted very long here,

5:22

right, which makes sense? Because they're

5:24

both absolutely crazy. Use this for a four

5:27

hundred mile long cave. Yeah. Ultimately,

5:29

though, something that did catch on um

5:32

and stick was tourism for

5:34

various reasons. Over the years, the public

5:36

was hearing more and more about this enormous

5:38

cave system, and curiosity was building.

5:41

Cave tours started in eighteen sixteen, and they've

5:43

stunningly been occurring over and over again

5:45

ever since, even through the Civil War yep,

5:48

priorities apparently so, even

5:50

though the fate of the country was dangling by a thread,

5:52

people are still interested in touring

5:55

Mammoth Cave, which I fully

5:57

understand. It's an alluring under

6:00

on the world. Yeah. It's also the same time

6:02

that, like early cave tour guides like Stephen

6:04

Bishop explored and named different portions

6:06

of the cave like the Mammoth Dome and

6:09

Goren's Dome. He even described

6:11

the cave as a grand, gloomy and

6:13

peculiar place. Yeah, which is a

6:16

perfect description and pretty on the nose.

6:19

And then Stephen's great nephew, at Bishop,

6:21

who kind of continued the family legacy,

6:24

he joined up with a man named Max

6:26

Camper to formally map out more

6:28

parts of the cave. Discovering

6:30

and naming things like Violet City and

6:33

Elizabeth's Dome, both of which sound kind

6:35

of lovely, absolutely and so beautiful.

6:37

I mean clear tourism was

6:39

like ramping up quickly, and by ny

6:42

the cave had several thousand annual visitors

6:44

flocking from near and far.

6:46

I mean, it's just such an

6:48

amazing thing to think, because caves

6:52

this big just didn't exist. So

6:54

it became such a tourism

6:57

magnet that money hungry locals

6:59

wanted to get in on the action and find their own

7:01

new sections of the cave to monetize

7:03

it. Yeah, which sadly is not surprising

7:06

that people were doing this then and

7:08

chopping at the bit to turn Mammoth

7:10

Cave into a cash grab. I mean

7:12

that's America. Yeah, so here we are.

7:15

And then you have people like George Morrison at the

7:17

time, who used dynamite to blow out what

7:19

he what he called the new entrance,

7:22

or this poor fellow named Floyd Collins

7:24

who got himself stuck while exploring

7:27

a portion of cave and end up dying down

7:29

there after seventeen days, which

7:31

is horrific. What a nightmare. It's

7:33

like an are you fraid of the dark? Story that just never

7:35

ends. Fortunately, all this greed

7:37

and tourism and the death is what urged

7:39

the federal government to protect the cave and make

7:41

it a national park, not only to protect

7:44

the land, but to protect these like swarms

7:46

of people who have been recklessly exploring and

7:48

putting themselves at risk and endanger like

7:51

and possibly ruining the cave. Yeah,

7:53

ruining the cave, ruining I

7:55

mean your your life apparent, like Floyd

7:58

Collins getting himself stuck. That's crazy. It reminds

8:00

me of that movie, Um James Franco

8:02

movie, What was it right or whenever? We had So

8:07

it's like that, except Floyd didn't survive.

8:09

But thank god someone eventually

8:11

intervened because we don't want m Cave

8:14

turning into a four hundred miles sarcophagus.

8:16

Yikes. This led Mammoth Cave officially

8:19

becoming a National park in nineteen

8:22

UM. At that time, there were only like

8:25

forty none miles in the cave, give

8:27

or take, and so that just goes

8:29

to show you the incredible work and safe

8:31

discovery that can occur when it's in the right hand.

8:34

Absolutely, geologists were able to discover

8:37

that there were actually several cave systems

8:39

that wind up all being connected and

8:41

when they're all pieced together, that's how we got the hundreds

8:44

of known miles that we have today.

8:46

And even though the miles are seemingly endless,

8:48

there are really only fourteen of them that

8:50

are accessible for tours today.

8:53

But that's the reality. For the best, um,

8:55

and for the worst. The safety of the visitors, that's

8:57

what's the most important. You don't want to end up

8:59

as like skeletons down there. No,

9:02

No, that's not what

9:05

this place should be. And I'm going to go scream

9:07

into a pillow. Now, Mammoth

9:18

Cave holds a very special place in our

9:20

nomadic hearts. Um. It's actually the very

9:23

first national park we visited when we got an

9:25

RV. Yeah, that's very true. Before

9:27

this, my heart really wasn't a nomadic

9:30

heart, but I think Mammoth Cave kind of triggered

9:32

that. And this was our first foray

9:35

into the RV lifestyle

9:38

and like nomadic

9:40

living and all that. So it was our very

9:42

first RV trip in general. We had freshly

9:45

purchased our r V in Indiana.

9:47

It was August. We were down

9:50

there for a weekend and then wrote

9:52

it down to Mammoth Cave to kind of christen

9:54

it and make it all feel official,

9:56

And what better way to do that than by going to

9:59

a national park. Yeah, I mean it

10:01

was just a fantastic little journey driving

10:03

down there. In the first place we had

10:05

to pick was a k away. I mean they

10:08

just like we love them, um so

10:10

near Uh, it was right near Natmam the

10:12

Cave, and we stayed there for a couple of days because we knew

10:14

it would be easy to visit the park and

10:17

then of course some other things like bourbon

10:19

distilleries. Yeah, so that

10:21

that was a priority. We wanted to be close to a national

10:23

park and also just kind of surrounded by Bourbon.

10:26

And it worked out really well

10:28

and that was a great weekend. They're both perfect.

10:31

We also went kind of mistakenly

10:33

to a Kentucky winery. Can we

10:36

not get into them? Yeah, this is Kentucky

10:38

is great at bourbon and

10:42

those are totally worthwhile and there's so many wonderful distilleries.

10:44

But this is not Napa

10:47

Valley by any means, so let's skim

10:49

right by that. Yeah. So we stated at this like amazing

10:52

k Away. Um. They had a great mini golf

10:54

course and one of those giant little bouncy

10:56

pillows, Like it's basically like an inflated

10:59

like trampoline. That what it is. It's like a

11:02

huge, gigantic earth marshmallow

11:04

or something, and they're probably

11:06

meant for kids, but I totally

11:09

got into it and I had a blast,

11:11

Like he took photos of me, and I don't I've never

11:13

been that happy, like as an adult. I

11:16

was just bouncing up and down, getting some serious

11:19

like elevation or

11:21

whatever you call that when you're bouncing. I just really love that

11:23

you called it an earth marshmallow. Marshmallows,

11:26

that's the technical term for these things. Yeah,

11:29

we'll go with that. Um. So that

11:31

was that was a great time. And then right next

11:34

to that was a basketball court where we

11:36

I think we got basketballs from the camp,

11:39

like the store or something that they let us borrow,

11:41

and then we played horse horse

11:44

I love it. So we got

11:46

really sporty, like a lot sportier then

11:48

we usually do, which is usually Yeah.

11:51

I mean, it was really fun and it was the first

11:53

weekends thing in the RV, so it was really

11:55

special, and we had Fan with us, of course, and

11:58

he got comfortable in it real quick, which was a

12:00

huge relief. Honestly, Yeah, he got comfy

12:02

and cozy shockingly fast, and

12:04

he did really well. I was like super

12:06

nervous. This was probably one of my biggest like anxieties

12:09

going into it. Was just worrying about Finn

12:11

and how like potentially anxious and scared

12:13

and square me he would be because like when we were in the loft

12:15

in Chicago, wh would do that frequently, Like

12:18

even when it started to drizzle rain outside,

12:20

he would freak out. So going into the r V, I'm

12:22

like, he's going to be like

12:24

constant meltdowns, and then I would it would

12:27

just reflect on me, just like his father, which

12:29

would definitely annoy you. Yeah right,

12:31

so we're the same and you would

12:33

be dealing with both of us too, neurotic messes

12:35

next to you. But he calmed

12:38

down really quick and then it

12:41

was much better for both of us. Although honestly, I

12:43

was still kind of freaking out from buying

12:45

the r V and I'm still freaking

12:47

out a little bit like a year and a half later, So yeah,

12:49

I mean, it really did happen fast. You know, one week we're

12:52

talking about buying an r V and selling or loft in Chicago.

12:54

The next thing you know, I'm calling Matt telling him the house we owe

12:56

for a don deposit, and you

12:58

know, it's just one of those crazy

13:02

times where it's just a whirlwind and I

13:05

just we're kind of like compulsive, so we just

13:08

jump into things and we just dive into it and

13:10

we do it. And this was one

13:12

of those cases where it was like the biggest

13:15

compulsive thing that we've ever done together

13:17

or yeah, by far, yeah, because

13:20

I guess I am kind of compulsive, but I

13:22

do freak out about it. Obviously

13:24

that it did work out for the best, and the fact

13:26

that we're able to celebrate this huge

13:28

new chapter together by visiting a national park

13:31

made it all much easier. Yeah,

13:33

and we'll definitely talk more in depth about our r

13:35

V experience later in the episode, but I

13:38

think we need to explore the cave. Oh

13:40

yeah, of course cave.

13:49

So obviously cave towards are the thing

13:51

to do here, and we made sure to book our tour reservations

13:54

online in advance, which costs a

13:56

small fee, nothing, nothing major, and

13:59

highly recommend that you do this in advance,

14:01

especially in the summer months like when we went, because

14:03

it was quite crowded. There was long lines,

14:05

in the visitor center to either purchase

14:08

tickets or pick up tickets

14:10

that you had reserved in advance. I'm

14:12

definitely glad we did, because like, yeah, it was

14:14

definitely at capacity. I mean it

14:16

was a pretty long line in the visitor center, just

14:18

a kid tickets, and they were like,

14:21

if you're for the eleven thirty um

14:23

am showing of the this cave tour,

14:26

step up front and then you have to like wiggle

14:28

your way through because we were getting so close

14:30

to the time that we had to jump on the bus to go over there.

14:32

I just remember it was like really intense.

14:35

It was yeah, much more sun than I thought it

14:37

would be. I was a little stressed, and I was afraid that like we

14:39

might wind up in the wrong line or

14:41

like go towards the wrong bus

14:44

or something, because there was a lot of like moving

14:46

parts here, and I'm like, I

14:48

don't know, yeah, And it was like again one

14:50

of our first uh not our first

14:52

national park together, but like this first

14:54

whole experience and you're your

14:57

normal ability to

14:59

like problems is kind of shocked

15:01

when you're first getting into our V lifestyle because

15:04

at least for us, because we never camped

15:07

in an RV and did

15:09

it like you've you did it like a family trip.

15:12

Yeah, I was like twelve, but that

15:14

doesn't really count because you didn't do anything

15:17

in there and like to like help put up

15:19

or anything. So it's just a whole new experience and we're just often

15:21

always running behind. But it was a fun time. Yeah,

15:24

all these adjustments and crammed into this like

15:26

one like inaugural weekend, but

15:29

it all, it was all great. Man with the cave was a lot of fun.

15:31

So the tour that we did was the Domes

15:33

and Dripstones Tour, which, as you might expect,

15:36

is filled with domes and dripstones spoiler

15:38

alert. And as with most cave

15:40

formations here, they're made by water slowly

15:43

trickling in from the surface and mixing with carbon

15:45

dioxide. The latter has the ability

15:48

to dissolve limestone, and over time,

15:50

like lots of time, thousands and thousands

15:52

of years, they create these

15:54

lavish looking cave structures like gnarly

15:57

stalagmites and stalactites that

15:59

seeming need dango from the cave ceiling. Sometimes

16:02

salactites come in such clusters that they resemble

16:05

frozen waterfalls, like with the popular formation

16:07

here called frozen Niagara, which I

16:09

love. Oh yeah, And for the Domes

16:11

and Gripstone tour. We boarded the green

16:14

colored school bus to get there from the visitor

16:16

center, driving along some small roads

16:18

into the woods where the tour begins through

16:20

a door that looks like it just disappears

16:23

into the forest. And the thing I loved about this

16:25

is just like it was dreaming

16:28

it was or it could have been terrifying,

16:30

you know, it could be the beginning of a are you afraid of the

16:32

dark? Sorry spoiler.

16:34

They do turn off all the lights in the caves. Yeah,

16:37

so it gets dark, and

16:40

I was a little afraid. But that

16:42

was that was great. I like that we did the tour where like

16:44

we all boarded at this bus and I had this like communal

16:46

experience in a sense. And

16:50

I haven't been on a school bus and I don't

16:52

know, it's like seventeen no bussing now because

16:54

I was driving in so it's been a long

16:56

time. And it was it was fun.

16:59

It was like this kind of a stalgic vibe happening as

17:01

we're winding our way up towards the

17:03

start of the tour and adding

17:05

to the kind of mysticism of all of

17:08

this whole experience was it was rainy

17:10

and kind of a gloomy dre every day, but I

17:13

think it added to it. In the forest that we had

17:15

to walk through a little bit to get to the entryway

17:18

was like super thick, superlash and

17:20

green. So walking through

17:22

it to get to the door was just stunning

17:24

in and of itself. I could have explored

17:26

that section and like not even gone underground, or

17:28

would have been like, this is great, um,

17:31

but there's this door

17:34

that is kind of in the middle

17:36

of the woods, seemingly like it kind of emerges

17:38

out of nowhere, and you all

17:40

go single file into this door and

17:43

then down a step of steep

17:45

stairs, So heads up.

17:47

Not ideal for people with a fear of enclosed spaces,

17:49

heights, or darkness, just all

17:51

of the fears, all of the fears. The

17:54

tricky thing with a group tour of the size

17:56

is that the guide is way in front of

17:58

you usually, so you have to follow through a

18:00

long, narrow line before meeting up to regroup

18:03

and learn more about the cave. Once

18:05

you can all see the guide and you know the guide's

18:07

telling you things while you're

18:09

walking right and you're missing them because

18:11

you're in the back and it's like, man, you really

18:13

need to try to get up to that front. But we're

18:15

more of like the back settlers, like you like

18:18

to allow everyone else. We like people watching,

18:20

so we do. And you're like talking a little bit

18:22

with some people in front of you or behind

18:24

you, making friends in the cave. And

18:27

you know, the thing about this, like

18:29

the good thing is the guide will meet up with you

18:31

over and over again. It happens several times, especially

18:34

during this tour, so you don't miss too much

18:36

and he will go over things that he was telling on the way.

18:38

But um,

18:40

yeah, they're close. Bear in mind. Yeah, if you're the type

18:42

of person who wants constant, like

18:45

little ty bits of information and just

18:48

maybe the comfort of being close

18:50

to a guide or whatever, you might want to like

18:54

make sure that you're towards the front, you know, or

18:56

just back to that in It was

18:58

fun though, and we could be like in these massive

19:01

amphitheater like spaces periodically where

19:03

the guide would point out different formations and

19:06

the thousands of years it took for water to create

19:08

it drip by drip by

19:10

drip by drip. There are

19:12

some fun and cute formations that he pointed

19:14

out to like something on the cave ceilings

19:16

that he said resembles an upside down

19:19

dollhouse. Yeah. I like that, although

19:21

like that's not something I would have envisioned

19:25

myself if he didn't point that out, because it's

19:27

so specific, Like, oh, sure that does look

19:29

like an upside down dollhouse glued to the

19:31

ceiling, But now it's like burned

19:33

into my memory and it's one of my favorite

19:35

things that we saw there. It's cute.

19:39

And another super cruel aspect of Mammoth Cave

19:41

are the underground waterways, something we've

19:43

never seen before in a cave, or something I didn't

19:45

even realize was actually like a

19:48

real thing. I've seen like

19:50

little kind of mini cave pools in

19:52

other caves like Carl's Bad caverns, but not

19:54

like actual waterways. But

19:57

at Mammoth Cave there are sections here are called

19:59

things like the Dead Sea and the River Sticks,

20:02

both fittingly ominous, which

20:04

run alongside some motionless waterways. They're

20:07

so still and dark that you almost don't even notice

20:09

their water. And another surprising fact

20:11

is that these waterways are actually home to animals,

20:14

specifically shrimp Kentucky Cave shrimp

20:17

crazy who. Yeah,

20:19

these definitely aren't the kind of shrimp that you're used to seeing

20:21

though. Um their albino and iiilis

20:24

and they only live in the deepest

20:26

regions of the cave, right, so

20:28

you're not going to see these in a shrimp cocktail anytime

20:30

soon. No, And

20:33

I feel like I'm actually

20:35

glad we didn't see any because they sound really

20:38

creepy. I don't want to like pass judgment and so they're

20:40

like fine docile animals, but they

20:42

sound horrific and I'd rather

20:44

just learn about them and respect them from afar,

20:47

like from the comforts of Theorist surface

20:49

where things aren't pitch black and early

20:52

quiet. Yeah. Absolutely, And a really

20:54

cool fun fact about them is, like the reason the hilist

20:56

is because they live in a cave, don't need that. If they

20:58

don't need their like it's always

21:01

so that's how they adapted, like adapted

21:03

to their surroundings. But back on the

21:05

tour, the domes and dripstones take about like

21:07

two hours and set aside from the narrow

21:10

like dimly lit steps, it's pretty

21:12

easy to do. But if you're looking

21:14

for something even easier and less intimidating,

21:16

try the Frozen Niagara Tour, which is a

21:18

little over an hour, and

21:20

it's just like a less deep underground

21:23

right, Yeah, that one. That one was much um,

21:25

easier and more straightforward and takes

21:27

you to one of these most iconic sites

21:30

or cave formations in the park. Or

21:32

if you're looking to go in the opposite direction and

21:35

amp up your adrenaline, the Wild

21:37

Cave Tour could be for you. It sounds terrifying

21:39

to me, but I'm also a little intrigued since

21:42

it requires some serious sper lunking

21:44

over the course of six hours. Jesus,

21:47

it's pretty hardcore and it's very

21:49

hands on. Um. There are lots

21:51

of dark, tight spaces to squeeze

21:53

through. It's worth noting that all

21:55

participants must be sixteen

21:57

years old and meet a size your arm.

22:00

You know, you can actually like make sure

22:02

you can fit through the tiny spaces like in the

22:05

beginning, like

22:08

like box demonstration box, to

22:10

make sure you can do it, yeah, because you don't

22:13

want to be down in the cave and be like, oh j

22:15

K, I can't fit. Yeah,

22:17

And even even like knowing that I could fit,

22:20

I think I would still be horrified. So I'm not sure

22:22

if I could pull the trigger in this and actually do something

22:25

like the Wild Cave Tour. But

22:27

I did actually go sparlunking in a cave in Barbadoes

22:30

not too long ago, so I know I

22:32

could do it. Granted, like the spurlocking

22:34

thing was kind of sprung on me. I didn't know like the cave tour I did

22:36

in Barbados included that, So that

22:39

was a bit of a surprise, unsettling

22:41

surprise when suddenly I was doing that.

22:44

Um And also that tour wasn't six hours

22:46

long, so it's a little more doable. That

22:48

would be like a really epic adventure

22:51

though. It what I think it would be fun

22:53

to do, like a National Park buckalist

22:56

experience at Ma of the Cave at the at

22:58

the world's largest cave. You

23:02

are listening to park Landia from my Heart

23:04

Radio. Hi,

23:30

I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is park Landia.

23:33

In today's episode is on Mammoth Cave

23:35

National Park in Kentucky, where we're

23:37

talking more about cave tours that you

23:39

can do here. Most cave tours

23:41

at Mammoth Cave actually started out the old fashioned

23:43

way at the historic entrance by the

23:45

visitor center. This is where the earliest Native

23:47

Americans first entered the cave, and it's where

23:50

visitors still entered the cave for tours of

23:52

sections like Gothic Avenue, Star

23:54

Chamber, trog which sounds like a

23:57

ride at Disney or something, Violet

24:00

City, and River Sticks and that's

24:02

s t y X by the way, as in the

24:05

underground river from Greek mythology,

24:07

like to get to the underworld. And

24:10

I think it's perfect here, it really is, And

24:12

the historic entrance is a great way to experience

24:14

the park, just like the natural entrance at Carl's

24:17

Bed caverns Um. It's amazing

24:19

to slowly descend beneath the Earth's

24:21

surface and feel like things are gradually getting

24:23

dark around you. It's like darker

24:25

and darker. And of course they have these

24:27

like lanterns along the way to prevent you from like crashing

24:30

into things or falling into the bottomless pits.

24:32

But you know, it feels natural. Yeah,

24:36

and it's the best way to experience a cave for

24:38

sure. But there's actually a lot more to

24:40

explore man withth cave beyond the actual cave

24:42

itself, surprisingly enough trails.

24:47

Yeah, it's a little too. In fact, that Mammoth Cave actually

24:50

has about eighty miles of hiking trails on the surface,

24:52

um, all through this beautiful train like forests,

24:55

rolling hills and the Green River

24:57

Valley. Yeah, that's a lot of hiking

24:59

trails. And I had no idea. I

25:01

know you didn't know about this, and I think most most

25:03

people don't because of the half a million

25:06

annual visitors that come to Mammoth

25:08

Cave, two thirds of them focus only

25:10

on cave tours and don't do anything

25:12

on the surface whatsoever. They come here

25:14

for one thing and one thing only. And

25:17

I think that's obviously understandable. But

25:20

you know, it feels like there's basically a whole another park

25:22

up here on the surface. It's just so

25:24

serene and beautiful. And

25:26

another fun fact that was convenient for us

25:28

was it's super dog friendly. It really

25:31

was like crazy, who to thunk.

25:33

I actually wrote an article about this a few years ago, so

25:35

it was like fresh in my memory and we're coming here about

25:38

how Mammoth Cave is one of the most dog friendly national

25:40

parks in the country. They obviously

25:43

can't go into the cave itself, but if

25:45

they're leashed, you can take them on pretty

25:47

much all the surface trails. Yeah, we went for

25:49

a little hike with Finn on the sand Cave Trail,

25:52

making Mammoth Caves finn first

25:55

official national park. That

25:58

was a big deal, big moment for him and

26:00

for huge for us as his parents. Yeah,

26:03

and it was. I think the Sand Cave Trail was also

26:05

the perfect trail for him because it's short

26:08

and easy and it's all on

26:10

this even boardwalk through this gorgeous

26:12

forest filled with tall trees and

26:14

flowers and just

26:16

like super chill, relaxing and

26:19

peaceful. We're the only ones on it when we did it, which

26:21

is great. And it ends by

26:23

the entrance to sand Cave where that poor

26:26

guy for Floyd Collins got stuck

26:28

and died, so you learn a

26:30

lot more about that, and then other

26:32

like sand Cave tidbits along the way. There's

26:34

signs that are well marked. So it's

26:36

great. It's very inportant. It's beautiful. I mean, it's a national

26:38

park, right, and you've got all that great things with

26:41

Cave is just filled with creepy and dark history all

26:43

over the place though either literally

26:45

dark or dark in other ways,

26:47

like right, So it's kind

26:50

of a funny juxtposition because like we're

26:52

in this forest that's like so quiet,

26:54

and calming almost like zen

26:57

like, and then all of a sudden, here's the signs, like, oh, here's

26:59

where someone died. You're like, oh, okay, the

27:01

caves have high sorry,

27:06

um, and like it's

27:08

it's kind of nice to reminder that of that, I guess

27:11

in the history and all the people

27:13

who have been here and experienced it in different

27:16

ways, some less fortunate than us,

27:18

like Floyd. But even though

27:20

I was definitely happy go lucky while taking Finn

27:22

on his first National Park hike and setting up

27:24

the camera to post for our first family photo

27:26

by the National Park sign, it was such

27:29

a beautiful moment, and it was such a

27:31

beautiful moment. And there's just so many other

27:34

hiking options as well, I mean more

27:36

on the north side of the Green River. Um.

27:38

And you can only get there with the Green River

27:41

Ferry, which drops you off at the Maple

27:43

Springs Group campground where

27:45

a lot of trailheads are. Um. It's worth

27:47

the extra effort though, because it's the side of the

27:49

park that has a lot less visitors, so

27:51

it's great for finding more quiet and

27:53

like serenity in the woods right

27:56

exactly, And unlike the River sticks

27:58

underground, the Green River won't bring

28:01

you to Hades Underworld, so

28:03

that's that's a plus. That's definitely a plus.

28:06

So if you're going to stick to the south side of the Green

28:08

River though, which is by the visitor center, one

28:10

trail that you need to hike, I think is

28:12

the River Sticks Spring Trail, so obviously

28:15

you're above ground you this

28:17

whole time. It goes right by the historic

28:19

entrance, so you can see what that looks like

28:22

and snap a few pictures, which I think you should

28:24

absolutely do because it's phenomenal,

28:27

and then it follows the River Sticks where it exits

28:29

the cave and that eventually flows

28:31

into the Green River. Altogether,

28:34

it's only about like a half mile total, which is

28:36

super easy and almost entirely

28:38

flat, but it packs a lot of cool sites into

28:40

a short length. So if you only

28:42

have time for like one surface trail, I think this

28:44

is a really good option. And

28:47

speaking of rivers, though, another thing that

28:49

most people don't realize about Mammoth Cave is

28:51

that it's the perfect park for paddling. The

28:54

park doesn't actually rent kayaks or canoes

28:56

or host pladdling tours, but there are plenty

28:58

of local outfitters that you can like get

29:01

with and they'll do that

29:04

with you. And the Green River is a

29:06

great easy trip for a leisurely flowed

29:08

through out this like gorgeous

29:10

forest and along the trees line. It's

29:13

Kentucky. I mean, it is beautiful. It's a

29:15

great place. Um But all

29:18

in all, like the Green River flows

29:20

through the park for about so there's

29:22

plenty of water ways to explore here. Yeah,

29:24

we need to do that. We didn't do that while we're

29:26

here, and I don't think we understood just

29:29

how much opportunity there was here for paddling,

29:32

and I think a lot of people don't realize that as well.

29:34

But it's sounds great.

29:36

It's super intriguing. And also my favorite

29:39

thing about the Green Rivers that

29:41

it's lined with a bunch of sandbars

29:43

and these kind of rocky little islands, so tons

29:46

of places along the way that you could stop and relax

29:48

and like have lunch and

29:50

just kind of chill out and dip your feet in the water. It's

29:53

it sounds perfectly quiet and relaxing.

29:55

Swimming is not recommended though, because

29:57

the river tends to be kind of strong and super

30:00

are unpredictable, but that's

30:02

that's fine. It's still like very relaxing

30:04

and scenic, and you can also go fishing if you're

30:06

into that sort of thing. You won't catch any of those

30:09

Kentucky cave shrimp, but the Green and Nolan

30:11

Rivers have plenty of catfish and perch and

30:14

bath. Yeah. And in terms of other

30:16

wildlife beyond fish and cave shrimp, Mammoth

30:18

Cave National Park also has animals like beavers,

30:21

coyotes, bald eagles, herons,

30:24

mink, and skunks, but most of which you probably

30:26

won't see. They're pretty elusive

30:28

and rare. We we didn't see like

30:30

any of these, No, but there's plenty to marvel

30:33

at within this like nature filled park.

30:35

Um Park is located at a

30:37

geographic part of the country where the

30:39

cooler North meets the warmer South.

30:42

Has a huge array of different flowers and

30:44

grasses and biodiversity in general.

30:47

Yeah right, it's like the best of both worlds

30:49

or best of both you know parts

30:51

of the country. I guess this place really

30:53

is just bursting with surprises.

30:55

Mammoth Cave like paddling

30:58

surface trails, blind

31:00

shrimp. There's so much here, both

31:02

beneath the ground and above it. So much

31:07

food. Now that we've explored

31:10

Mammoth Cave from the underground and the surface.

31:12

Let's talk about another one of my favorite Kentucky

31:14

activities drinking

31:16

bourbon. Yes, yeah, you

31:18

can't like not go to distilier when

31:20

you're in Kentucky, especially when you're this

31:23

close to Kentucky Bourbon country. And

31:25

for us, like we love bourbon, we always

31:28

have a stuff supply of it in the RV. It's

31:30

a big priority. And I

31:32

remember while we were here, we were trying to visit a couple

31:34

of the big ones, like the iconic distilleries

31:37

like Jim Beam after our cave

31:39

tour. But for some reason, most

31:41

distilleries here have superlimited

31:43

hours that end like weirdly early

31:46

afternoon, like one pm or

31:48

two pm or something, which is create like

31:50

what why are people doing distillery tours that like noon?

31:53

Right? But luckily we were able to visit

31:55

Bardstown Bourbon Company and Bardstown, Kentucky.

31:58

It's one of the newer distiller is in the area, and

32:01

it was beautiful and quite modern looking,

32:03

very modern looking. It looks like a sleek

32:05

contemporary lab or something. From the outside

32:08

and huge like in the middle of this like big

32:11

field and inside

32:13

was just as beautiful. We didn't

32:15

do any distillery to or anything like that. But we did

32:18

get drinks and food at the distilleries restaurant,

32:20

which is called Bottle and Bond Kitchen and

32:22

Bar appropriate. I like it.

32:25

Yeah, it was so cool. Um you can see

32:27

into the main distillery through the wall while

32:30

you're drinking. Um. It was literally

32:32

perfect and the cocktails were amazing. Yeah,

32:34

we were really happy there. I

32:36

don't really like just sipping bourbon by

32:39

itself necessarily, It's not like

32:41

my go to, so I'd much rather taste it this way,

32:43

like in a cocktail in The

32:45

bartenders here were really really good and

32:48

clearly very creative. They have things

32:50

like barrel aged old fashions and barrel

32:52

aged Manhattans and mules with type

32:55

basil and other fun things like the

32:57

Stay Gold cocktail, which has bourbon,

32:59

honey, lemon, and turmeric and Moroccan spices.

33:02

And I as someone like I obsessed

33:04

with turmeric, so I'm fully

33:06

and with that. They even had like a few

33:09

tiki cocktails, which is a huge surprise, um,

33:11

because we love our tiki drinks and so

33:13

this was perfect for us. Um. I think we

33:15

shared the Kentucky Sling, which was has

33:18

this like rye whiskey, gin, pineapple,

33:21

cherry herring and benedictine served

33:23

in a fun little tiki mug. Of course, we can't say

33:25

no to a good tiki drink, especially in

33:28

a bourbon distillery, which is again a

33:30

very pleasant surprise. It really was, I

33:32

mean, you know, another surprise was

33:35

it was those like glazed Brussels

33:37

sprouts with blue cheese and chicken

33:39

fried oysters, and then they had like sweet potato

33:41

oknoky. You love that, I mean I

33:43

do too. And this is like our ideal

33:45

scenario which just like sitting

33:48

dining and drinking at the bar, talking with the bartender,

33:50

learning and

33:54

it was just a great way to wind down

33:56

our day in Kentucky r

34:01

V. And now we

34:04

definitely got to talk more about our r V experience

34:06

here since this was our first foray into

34:08

life on the road, a lot of learning

34:11

curves, lots of them. Um. Luckily,

34:13

we're gonna have um like an

34:15

episode in the future Boon document Brad

34:18

that's gonna be talking about the essentials, which will be

34:20

about most of our

34:23

unexpected things that we had to get on our first

34:25

trip. Um. But we definitely

34:28

didn't have a dump post, so we had to go get

34:31

our dumpos. We the

34:33

homely ask. It was like the water hose, which was an

34:35

issue because like I got the wrong kind, Like

34:37

I didn't think there was a wrong kind, um,

34:40

but I had to learn it all to hook up, like I

34:42

the organizing it. Um. They're like leveling

34:45

box and all these different things

34:47

that I didn't think about RV.

34:50

They gave you everything. They don't spoil

34:53

over. I didn't see and like this,

34:55

so's how oblivious I was, Like I'm learning all this

34:57

for the first time, like right now, I didn't I don't

34:59

even remember are you doing this? Because I

35:01

actually had to go to the store and I went to this

35:03

hardware store and it was like right

35:05

next to like a little grocery store

35:08

too, And it was interesting because I'm like, okay, well I'll

35:10

just grab some snacks for dinner or whatever.

35:12

Like. So I go in there, I get

35:14

my hose, my dump pose, all these things, and

35:16

then I go out and I go to the grocery store. And

35:19

then I'm coming out and I remember

35:21

walking to my r V and all

35:23

of a sudden, I see Amish people in

35:25

a minivan, so like they you

35:27

know, some people can drive and everything like

35:29

that, and all of

35:31

a sudden, there was this like little kid

35:34

ten eleven years old and

35:36

he has the bowl cut, you know, conic

35:40

iconic amish Um

35:42

culture. And I'm coming

35:45

through with like wearing a sweater with

35:47

my like sleeves pushed up

35:49

and my tattoos showing and

35:52

in shorts, and then I'm like getting

35:54

into my r V with the dog, and I'm

35:57

like looking at this kid

35:59

and he's looking at me, and we're just like staring

36:01

at each other because we're just like lost, like in

36:04

like this cultural difference.

36:06

Like it was like the first time I think I might have

36:08

seen Amish in person, and

36:12

probably the first time he saw like a tattooed guy

36:14

getting in a RV with a little

36:16

dog like sitting on his lap while driving. So

36:19

I mean it was definitely one of those like cultural

36:21

experiences that was just like I want

36:23

to learn more because I just,

36:27

you know, I'm not that I'm ignorant to it. I

36:29

just I Amish.

36:31

I've always been like a fairy tale, I guess to me, and

36:33

that's just not not now.

36:36

But they were at that point, and

36:38

since then, I've like familiarized myself

36:40

with more of their culture and things like

36:42

that. But there's just really one of those experiences

36:45

of like I'm gonna love the

36:47

road. So many

36:50

crazy people crazy. Yeah,

36:52

you're probably like a fairy tale to him, like heavily

36:55

tattooed, like a city

36:57

person with a many docks in

36:59

and in RV he didn't he didn't

37:01

even see me. That would have thrown for a loop like

37:04

oh you're are you married to a man?

37:07

Yeah? Right, because I think I left you at

37:09

the r V part. I didn't remember

37:12

that. This whole period of that weekend was a blurer. I

37:14

don't know what I was doing. It was really I was sitting.

37:16

I was just like sitting at a pitching table at an

37:18

m D r V spot. I think you're working

37:22

WiFi. And the one

37:25

part I do remember about like

37:28

the r V in our first like night

37:31

or two was maybe

37:33

I think while you're out, you also bought

37:35

a DVD ready player, one that like Steven

37:38

Spielberg movie that came that

37:42

was mind blowing. It was long. I remember

37:44

being kind of exhausted. It was like two and a half hours, but

37:47

beautiful, and we r

37:49

V had at a DVD player in it didn't

37:51

I think it came with it came. So

37:55

yeah, we our first entertainment

37:57

activity and there was watching Reddie Player one, having

38:00

like snacks, pop room

38:02

something and realizing for the

38:04

first time we had no r

38:06

WE WiFi. Oh

38:10

yeah, We're like, oh, this is gonna be a big

38:12

issue. So we um,

38:15

I have to address that, nip that in the

38:17

bout right away. But we it's

38:19

been much smoother ever since.

38:25

You are listening to park Landia from my Heart

38:27

Radio. Hi,

38:44

I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is park Landia

38:47

and today we're talking about Mammoth Cave National

38:49

Park in Kentucky. Ecology.

38:55

I'm really excited to talk about cave

38:57

colomy. It a lot here, so fascinating

39:01

and so much to impact. But it's more about

39:03

like how these um

39:06

work within their environments, Like these different

39:08

animals and exactly have to live in caves,

39:11

some don't. There's a lot to go out for because

39:13

Mammoth Cave National parking ball is a case system

39:16

and it's the world's largest. Animals in this

39:18

park are sorted into

39:20

like cave dwellers, surface

39:22

dwellers, and those that live in the

39:24

in between um. The cave ecosystems

39:27

are very delicate. All the energy

39:29

that feeds a cave comes from

39:31

the surface, and anything that stops

39:34

this flow of nutrients into the cave can

39:36

mean like extinction for the animals that

39:38

live there. So, as you can imagine, populations

39:40

of the cave dwelling species are

39:42

never very large, right, Yeah,

39:45

and it's definitely very delicate this ecosystem.

39:47

For instance, agriculture around Mammoth Cave

39:49

has put the ecology of the cave system in danger,

39:52

particularly for the Kentucky cave shrimp,

39:55

which is particularly vulnerable to fertilizers

39:57

and other water contaminants that make their way

39:59

into the via surface water. Whole

40:02

populations of Kentucky cave shrimp have crashed

40:04

due to the water pollution and starting at the surface.

40:06

Isn't that crazy? Just like what we do

40:09

has impact on the animals. I mean, what

40:12

a crazy concept, trickles all the way down to these

40:14

poor, helpless blind shrimp.

40:17

They're very delicate, they really are. And

40:19

you know, the cave ecosystem is really

40:22

threatened by the overuse by tourists

40:24

as well. Um the lighting, trail

40:26

constructions, the building of unnatural

40:29

cave entrances, and the excessive

40:31

noise from the caves during tours are even

40:33

very stressful to animals. So

40:36

us as

40:38

tourists. You know, we can

40:40

bring in a lot of

40:43

like spores from like white nose

40:45

syndrome for bats, which

40:48

will we'll talk about more in episode eight,

40:50

but it's all contributing

40:53

to the steep decline in bad populations.

40:56

Yeah, and this also speaks more to the delicate

40:59

balance of how great it is

41:01

that people visit Mammoth Cave and are interested

41:03

in it, but also how fragile

41:05

an ecosystem like this is, and how

41:07

you need to be mindful of that, especially with little things

41:10

like excessive noise, like just whispering

41:12

goes a long way. You know, you don't need to be shouting

41:15

or like cracking jokes or you

41:17

know, going in big groups and

41:19

all like hemming and hanging the whole

41:21

time or whatever. But it's

41:24

it's great to visit this place, to just do it in a

41:26

respectful way as much as

41:28

possible. Absolutely so, to

41:30

explore more of the animals at

41:32

Mammoth Cave, none of which we saw, but all

41:34

of which we are fastened to buy in

41:37

respect. There are three

41:39

categories of animals that use the cave. What

41:41

are those three categories? I'll tell you. So.

41:43

The first one is called chocolobites

41:46

and chocolobites are animals that are

41:48

specially evolved for living their entire lives

41:50

in a cave. These animals are often small

41:52

and sort of ghostly looking, sightless,

41:55

with slow metabolism since food is scarce

41:57

in the cave. Most famous of chocolobites,

41:59

of course, are the endangered Kentucky

42:02

cave shrimp. There's also two kinds

42:04

of isless fish and cave

42:07

salamander, and even a blind crayfish.

42:09

So, and these are blind because

42:11

they live in the caves,

42:13

like, they don't come out of it and again never I

42:16

know we said this earlier in the UM

42:18

episode, but they don't need

42:20

sight. They never see light in any

42:22

capacity. Yeah, then

42:24

there's like track files. These organisms

42:26

might prefer cave life to surface

42:30

life, but they could honestly spend

42:32

their time in either place. They don't have

42:34

to live in the cave for any portion

42:36

of their lives. Um. Some examples

42:39

of these in Mammoth are like the

42:41

salamander's, crayfish, spiders

42:44

and spring fish. Right, yeah, exactly.

42:46

So they're kind of like almost the equivalent

42:48

of like an amphibian or something that could live in like water

42:51

land, and they have options come

42:53

and go as they please. And then the third

42:56

category is troglozines and

42:58

troglos is the Greek for cave and

43:01

zenos is the record for guests, so

43:03

these animals are cave visitors.

43:06

And most notably, there are twelve

43:08

species of bats that use the cave system

43:10

here, including Indiana bats, gray

43:12

bats, and bring big brown bats

43:15

to name a few. But two species

43:17

are endangered now and the number of the rest of

43:19

the species are declining. Sadly,

43:22

because trocola deans are important to the ecology

43:25

of the cave because they bring nutrients in

43:27

from the surface, and because mammoth caves

43:29

bat populations are suffering, the cave

43:31

dwellers can no longer depend on backwana for food

43:33

and now rely on other trocol deans like

43:35

cave crickets impact rats to bring

43:38

energy in the form of carcasses,

43:40

droppings, and eggs from the surface.

43:43

Yeah, isn't that crazy. I would like finn

43:45

be classified as what you tracolophile.

43:49

Um I could live in the

43:51

US, I mean, I could be a trocotphile.

43:53

I'd rather not because I had

43:56

you know, I just wanted to talk about my favorite animals

43:58

and and I'm just really thinking about

44:00

those like three things to bring? Oh

44:03

that run the spects with the number three. Yeah,

44:05

yeah, my

44:13

favorite three things to bring? One

44:15

could be Finn and our dogs. Yes

44:17

to Mammoth Cave. I think, like we said,

44:19

it's a surprisingly dog friendly

44:22

park, so if you have a dog, please

44:24

bring him or her along. Also

44:26

bring a leash so that they can actually enjoy

44:29

the trails with you. Because to

44:31

be a six foot leash and there's

44:33

reasons behind, like maximum, so do

44:36

not mess with it. Six ft

44:38

leash. Every National park is the same thing, yeah

44:40

across the country, right right, and guarantee

44:43

your dog will love this park as much as Finn did. Um

44:46

some more stuff to bring or a couple more things

44:48

to bring to Mammoth Cave. One important

44:50

item is sturdy walking and or

44:53

like hiking shoes, especially

44:55

when you're going down into the cave, because

44:57

things can get steep, narrow,

45:00

craggy, and most notably quite

45:02

dark. So even if things are

45:04

lit or you're holding a lantern or something,

45:07

this is a much darker

45:09

place than the surface, so you're gonna want shoes

45:11

that won't be slipping and sliding over

45:14

things potentially. And

45:16

then also while you're in the cave, you should

45:18

bring a jacket

45:20

or sweater or sweats or something like

45:23

that. No matter what the temperature is on the surface,

45:25

whether it's scorching hot or it's like degrees,

45:28

it's almost constantly fifty four degrees

45:31

in the cave, which I think sounds

45:33

kind of comfortable. That's like sweater weather. So

45:36

just going knowing that you don't want to be like in

45:38

a tank top because it's hot on the surface. Then go down

45:40

you're like some cold I'm

45:42

gonna drop the sun, you know. I want to know what your favorite

45:45

part of Mammoth Cave was. I mean, I'm

45:47

truly fascinated. There's so much that we've

45:49

gone over, so much um just

45:51

of what we talked about, but then there's things that we missed,

45:54

But like, what was your favorite thing

45:57

from Mammoth Caves. I

46:00

think my favorite thing was, and

46:02

I hope I'm not stealing this from you, because I feel like that might

46:04

be the case, but was when we got to do

46:06

that little trail with Finn and that whole experience

46:09

taking a photo with him at the National Park sign because

46:11

we always do photos together at National Park signs

46:14

wherever, whichever park we're at, and

46:17

it was really special and exciting to do that with Finn

46:19

for the first time, even though he was

46:21

not cooperating and did not know. There

46:24

was just too much to look at. I mean, obviously

46:28

what beauty all around. Yeah

46:30

he's not Yeah, he doesn't notice

46:32

the camera at all, and that's fine. It was a

46:34

great family photo nonetheless. And he loved

46:36

the trail. I thought it was the perfect length

46:39

for him and nice

46:41

and flat and just I

46:43

was so happy and I loved doing that

46:46

all together. What about

46:48

you? What was your favorite part? I

46:50

know this is weird, but like honestly

46:52

finding out about elish shrimp, that's

46:55

not I mean, it is weird, but like learning

46:58

about the ecology and the wildlife he um,

47:01

even the differences between the like

47:03

track lazines versus tracle files

47:06

versus like tracle bytes, like you know,

47:08

that was really interesting

47:11

to understand.

47:13

Yeah, the cave ecosystem is

47:16

really deep, like also literally

47:18

deep. There animals living underground

47:20

here deep underground there really are And considering

47:22

like all of our talk about like mummies and eyelash

47:25

shrimp. Uh, and you're afraid of the dark.

47:27

I think we should finish this episode with a little

47:29

horror story. Yeah, I know, because of

47:32

Unsurprisingly, Mammoth

47:34

Cave is a park that has

47:36

triggered the obsession from

47:39

HP Lovecraft himself, one of the foremost authorities

47:42

on horror and creepy fiction. He actually

47:44

wrote a short story that's set in Mammoth

47:46

Cave, because of course he did. When this

47:48

place just is made for stuff

47:50

like that. It's called the Beast in the Cave,

47:53

and it's the kind of thing that nightmares are literally

47:55

made of. Yeah, and honest, it

47:57

sounds like the plot of the movie The Descent, which

47:59

I have seen, but I've heard a lot

48:01

about, and I've read the Wikipedia

48:04

page in detail because that's what I do. I

48:06

can't see horror movies because I get traumatized

48:08

too severely, but I love to read Wikipedia

48:11

pages and like experience the horror that way.

48:14

So here's a little teaser from that story. Yeah,

48:17

it's about a man touring

48:19

Mammoth Cave who gets separated from

48:21

his group somehow, and he gets lost his

48:24

torch eventually goes out, leaving

48:26

him in pitch dark.

48:28

Yes, this is horrifying, literally

48:31

horrifying. He hears footsteps approaching,

48:33

but they don't sound human, so he throws a stone

48:36

into the darkness. Towards the sound, curious

48:38

to hear what happens next. But

48:40

I guess you have to read the short story for yourself,

48:44

right or you could just be like me and

48:46

not read that story and watch a romantic

48:48

comedy to erase this for my memory. Already Player

48:51

one, just go go watch Ready with One.

48:53

But really, though, like h. P. Lovecraft

48:56

really just gets it. I mean, Mammoth

48:59

Cave is the most hauntingly

49:02

beautiful place you've

49:05

been listening to. Park Landia, a show about National

49:08

Parks Parklandids the production of My Heart

49:10

Radio, created by Matt Carouac, Brad

49:12

Caro Wac and Christopher has The otis

49:14

produced and edited by Mike John's. Our executive

49:17

producer is Christopher hasiotis our researcher's

49:19

Jocelyn Shields. A special things goes out

49:22

to Gabrielle Collins, Christal Waters

49:24

and the rest of the Parklandia crew. And Hey

49:26

listeners, if you're enjoying the show, leave

49:28

us a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps

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49:35

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49:41

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49:44

visit the heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,

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or wherever you listen to your favorite shows, and

49:49

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