Cara, Lin, and I are spending a few days at Mammoth Cave National Park. We’re at the Jellystone campground close by, which among tent and RV sites, has cabins that you can stay in. As much as we’d like to do more tent camping in the future, it is really nice to have a bed and A/C to come back to. We made a fire and roasted s’mores before turning in last night and were up bright and early this morning to get ready for the park.
Today, we explored all the trails around Visitor’s Center (tomorrow we’re doing a cave tour, and Wednesday we’re planning on going to the backcountry trails). There are a lot of loops and inclines and scenic outlooks that filled up the day and reminded me that I need to add some hill running into my workouts. But the forest is gorgeous. I don’t really get tired of looking at trees and rocks. What’s that Pride & Prejudice quote? “What are men to rocks and mountains?”
We also saw a copperhead snake on our morning hike. A ranger who happened to be passing us on our trail told us about it otherwise we might’ve walked on by (or been more surprised without the heads up).
After our morning hike and a picnic lunch, we spent some time going to the exhibits at the Visitor’s Center to learn more about Mammoth Cave. It’s the longest cave system in the world, predates the dinosaurs, and in the ~1840s held consumption huts from a doctor who thought the cave air would be good for tuberculosis patients. It was not and the cave hospital was shut down.
We’re back at our cabin now, freshly showered, and taking some R&R before going to get pizza. Thunderstorms are in the forecast tonight so we’re planning a night indoors with some card games.
With Love,
Natalie