It was a long drive down, and I really wanted us to get there before the Visitors Center closed (6:30pm) so that we could pick up some guides and figure out which cave tours to go on the next day. Unfortunately Mammoth Cave is not set up for any self guided tours (as Carlsbad is), so you have to go as part of a group.
We got there a few minutes after 6 (aided by the switch to Central time), and it turns out they have a 6:15 lantern tour. So we went straight at it.
I actually found the lantern tour less cool. Because the electric lights were off, you couldn't see far. And because you were generally surrounded by lanterns, you couldn't really see much beyond your group. So I felt like I missed some of the awesomeness of the cave. We eventually figured out that we were happier up front where our lantern did give us a bit of a hint of the darkness we were always walking towards.
Americans found Mammoth Cave long before they found conservationism, so there's a lot of historical graffiti in certain sections down there. Apparently it was often commissioned by white tourists - and actually put on the walls and ceilings by tour guides... who usually happened to be slaves.
After the tour we set up our tent and checked out the tour schedules. We were both interested in the tour that visits the underground river, but that is only offered in the middle of the summer, so that wasn't an option (until the early 90s they actually had boat rides on a stretch of river. How badass is that?).
The two we considered are the two longest:
the Wild Cave tour, which involves crawling around in tight passageways ("Chest or hip measurement must not exceed 42 inches; if you are larger, you cannot physically pass through the crawlspaces") and
the Grand Avenue tour, which is basically 4 hours over 4 miles (they stop and talk to you, sometimes too much).
We kept wondering if the claustrophobia would be too much on the Wild Cave tour and ultimately decided on the Grand Avenue tour. We figured out later we probably would have been turned away from Wild Cave because of our lack of boots. It also starts too early in the morning for vacation...
Anyway, a good thing about the Grand Avenue tour is that it didn't involve any of the cave that we toured the night before. So we heard new things for the most part. I think it's a good choice if you're only going on one tour. And if you're going on two, this one pairs well with one of the historical entrance tours (Historic Tour, or the aforementioned river tour).
Near the end of the tour they shut off all the lights. Now that, my friends, is total darkness. (obviously none of these pictures are of that moment)
Side note: my annual pass didn't get us anything here. The park is free to get into, but you have to pay for tours. Kind of lame that you can't even get a discount with the thing.
A few weeks after we got home we watched "The Descent", which was utterly terrifying.
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