Cave City, KY and Mammoth Cave Nation Park (May 26, 27, 2023)

I did not plan well for this leg of the trip or the next leg in Memphis, TN.  I did not realize how popular Mammoth Cave was nor how little I would find to do in the area.  The drive was only 3 hours, so I got a lazy start after a prior late night.  The drive was through rolling green hills, and small-town America.  It was very clear by the infrastructure that KY was struggling to maintain roads and buildings.  While in Cave City, KY I stayed at a Harvest Host (HH) that was a storage company behind a locked gate that afforded added security in what was a suburb of Bowling Green KY.  Before ending my day, I went over to the Mammoth Cave National Park Visitor Center to get the lay of the land.  All big tours of the cave were booked, so I booked the Gothic Tour for the next day.  I walked through the visitor center museum and learned Mammoth Cave resides beneath sandstone and shale ridgets and is the largest cave system in the world spanning over 7 miles and 420 miles with more branches continuing to be discovered. 
The next morning, I set off for Mammoth Cave National Park Sal Hallow and Buffalo Creek Loop trails, a 5.5-mile loop trail.  To get there I had to take a mini car ferry run by a ranger – so fun.  The morning was still cool so the hike under the trees was comfortable.  Then I went back over the ferry to the visitor center to have lunch, read, write, and wait for my 2PM Gothic Cave Tour.  The Gothic Cave tour was led by Ranger Dominque who shared with us about first visitors and how the cave was used in 1812 war to extract materials to make gun powder.  It was a much more curated cave than Gap Cave in Cumberland Gap National Park.