The first day of our trip - after driving into Kentucky - was spent at Cave City. We did a medium (difficulty) tour of Mammoth Cave.
I had not been there since I was a child and had no real memory of it. My husband and kids had never been there.
We love commercial cave tours - and have done lots of them.
This one had lots of steps, about 2 miles of walking, and some very tight places.
There was no one in our very large group that was significantly over weight.
My husband and I wondered how they monitor this. Do they check the crowd before starting? Do they monitor people when they buy tickets? Do they just rely on folks to figure it out from the description?
Was it just our imagination that I could not have done this tour at 200 lbs+? Maybe.
There were two particular places - Fat Man's Misery and Tall Man's Misery - that I don't think I could have squeezed through in the past. I know the 100+ steps at the end to climb the tower is something that I could not have done before my knees were strengthened from yoga. And even though there was a little rest near the end - two miles of walking would have been too much for me - three years ago.
One of my favorite things about cave tours is the temperature - nice and cool. The combination of needing a sweatshirt and jeans and breathing nice cool air is my favorite. This is how I like to sleep too - piles of blankets and nice cool/cold air.
Mammoth Cave does not have spectacular formations. What is does have are amazingly large "rooms" and miles and miles of trails.
There are underground rivers in the lower sections. There used to be boat tours - and I have a very vague memory that we might have done that as a child. The boat tours were stopped long ago to protect the sightless fish in the rivers. They are extremely sensitive and rely on vibrations to "see" so the boats - in the water with them - were deadly.
And YES - this was very fun.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
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3 comments:
Neat! I bet that was super cool for the kids, too.
My husband loved the spelunking (sp?) we did at Marengo Cave about 12 years ago. We were recently married and were leading our youth group from church. I was thinner then, about 155, and much younger! So the physical part wasn't hard for me.
BUT, I learned I am claustrophobic on that trip. The very first thing we did was crawl through a tunnel, and it got smaller and smaller until we were crawling on our bellys with our elbows, and then we were in about 6 inches of 50 degree water. It took a good 10 minutes to get through, and around 3 minutes in I freaked out. I mean, can't breathe, I gotta get outa here, freaked. Joe, the church kid crawling in front of me, talked me down and helped me get out. If it weren't for him I don't think I'd have made it.
My husband, the adventurer, absolutely loved it. He thought it was like going to another planet. After getting through the tunnel, I stayed with the tour but it was one of the most difficult and unpleasant 3 hour experiences of my life. We walked through chest deep water and crawled again through rock on our bellies--only this time it was covered in slimy mud and was long and narrow.
The only thing I liked about it was the cool air, the sounds of the cave when we sat still, and getting OUT of there at the end.
I haven't been in a cave since, but I think your tour, I could do. How awesome that you did it and loved it with your fit body!
For the record, I did both Fat Man's Misery and Tall Man's Misery last summer at 265 lbs.
I love cave tours (though I could have done without all the cave crickets at Mammoth). We're hoping to go back to Mammoth Caves and do a couple more tours sometime soon.
Jaimie - glad to hear you enjoyed Mammoth Cave tours too - there were several listed that looked like a lot of fun - enjoy your next trip. Is it in the MIND that those "misery" places were sooo small and sooo tight? - because the guides mention them and make a big deal out of it? Maybe I am claustrophobic too? I carried all my weight in my gut and had trouble getting through lots of normal places in the past - like a pregnant woman. So, it might just be because of that feeling that I am so conscious of small places.
We have been to other caves where there have been tiny places that only small people (like 10 year old small) went through and the rest of the people/adults went around another way. I didn't think the miseries were that small - 10 year old small - but I did think they were pretty tiny.
Laura - I have NEVER had to crawl on my belly or go through a tight tunnel or wade in water and couldn't do any of those either - another cave might not bother you at all. There are tours at Mammoth that are a little like that - crawling - you just have to pick your tour carefully - I guess. Mammoth would be a good one for you to try again if you wanted - the rooms are huge.
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