May 4, 2013 - Day 6: Mammoth Cave and beyond

We awoke this morning to rain, rain, rain. When Ralph opened the door, he found about 3 inches of water under our steps! Disconnecting the RV with that much standing water called for crocs... there was no getting around the water. Fortunately we had allowed enough time that we still pulled out at 11 am. Our plan was to head to Louisville and spend the night at a WalMart. However, when the signs for Mammoth Cave began to appear, we quickly modified our plans. We've been to Carlsbad Caverns and then we went through the cave at Raccoon...

Mar 29, 2013 - Exploring Mammoth Cave

On Thursday we said goodbye to Mississippi and Tennessee. We headed to our next stop, Mammoth Cave National Park. Upon arrival, we visited the brand new Visitor's Center and purchased tickets for a cave tour on Friday. All the tours were sold out except one, the "New Entrance" tour. The tour started at 2:45 P.M. so we spent the morning Jeeping around the park and surrounding hills. It is a beautiful area and I would have loved to have my horse to ride some of the trails. Promptly at 2:45, we loaded onto a bus for the short drive to the new...

Mar 28, 2013 - Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky

We have arrived at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. It was about a 6 hour drive from Memphis, driving around Nashville. I cannot tell you much about the park yet except that the sites are $17.00 per night and there are no hookups. No problem for us. Terra loves it here because they have lots of SQUIRRELS!!!!! We purchased tickets this afternoon for a tour tomorrow of the caves. We will be here 2 nights, at least, and then on towards Columbus, Ohio. 337 miles today, 4,964 this trip

Sep 18, 2012 - Sneak Peek at new Visitor Center

Mammoth Cave has been in the process of building an addition to the visitor center for years. Remember when Brice and I signed the huge water tank that was to be buried next to it? Well, they've been working inside all summer and should be opening it to the public before November. I've seen packages come in to the warehouse for the visitor center and heard that the electric would be turned on by Sept 14th, so I waited until after that to see it. I heard that it was impressive and I agree with all the rangers. It will give a great idea of...

Sep 12, 2012 - found a lesser cave

Brice was told there was a hole in the ground near where he knew a homestead used to be but a well wasn't found. Maybe this law enforcement ranger found it, so Brice and I went looking. We came upon a small cave called Elko cave and I liked the environment around it, so Brice took a couple of pictures for me. (I didn't have my camera because I thought I was going to work in the office all day!) We were about to give up looking for the hole that might be a well when we found the small hole with an opening as big as a man's outstretched hand,...

Sep 4, 2012 - Water and Air Quality

Katie and I went with Jonathan Jernigan to the leased land where their "weather station" is located. I asked why they leased land and it's because there is no place in the park that is clear and elevated enough to measure the air and water - there are clear areas in valleys or depressions and that doesn't work, and all the elevated areas are wooded and must remain so. That was the easy part for me to remember and be able to relate to you! I was surprised at the buildings, the equipment in them, and all the measuring devices in the compound....

Aug 29, 2012 - A Green River find

Today marks the first time I was in a canoe!!! Brice took me, Laura, and Emily out on the river to show us the remains of a dock or ferry because he had found it on Saturday but didn't have his GPS then. The river is very low and traffic cannot use the ferries until it rains enough again. Maybe the remnants of Isaac will fix that over Labor Day weekend. Laura and I couldn't keep up with Brice and Emily, but that's ok, as we caught up when he stopped at the wood pieces he was looking for. He is now sure it is the remains of an old ferry at...

Aug 14, 2012 - Sloan's Pond Revisited

To get our of the office where I've been working lately, I went with Brice because he wanted to get better pictures and samples of plants he wants to identify, in case they are invasive and need to be taken out. This is the pond where I saw water snakes, a big turtle, lots of frogs, and a pair of Canadian geese. You can see that we saw a water snake, a turtle, and lots of frogs around this grown over pond!

Jul 17, 2012 - I found a graveyard!

I walked out to see the Green Dragon plants (pics in the May 9 entry because that's when we found them) with a pair of loppers to cut back the brambles in the path. I was standing there listening to all the birds around me when I saw a faded path back into the woods. Brice brought me here to show me an old graveyard but the path ended and we saw those green dragon plants. I walked carefully, cutting briars as I went, always on the look out for snakes. In a little bit, I started seeing periwinkle or myrtle growing and that's a sure sign of a...

Jul 10, 2012 - Great Onyx Cave

Brice told me that whenever someone was offering a tour of the Great Onyx Cave, I had to go on it. Shannon is leading a group of 9th graders into that cave with lessons of geology, learning what conditions allow for certain formations in a cave. Woohoo! This was great timing because of seeing Cub Run Cave over the weekend and being impressed by it. The Great Onyx Cave was acquired by the Park in the early 1960s when the Edwards family gave the land and what's under it to them. And what a cave it is! As soon as we walked into the cave, we...

Jul 2, 2012 - More cave work!

It was time to get data off a water monitoring device that is planted on the Echo River at a section called Minnehaha Island. I had to go for three reasons: 1 - it is very hot outside so who wants to work in that?; 2 - I am a registered citizen in Minnehaha County, SD and I have been on the Minnehaha boat on Lake George, NY when I lived near there; 3 - we will be going to a section of the cave we haven't been in before and there is still no crawling or repelling! We went down the elevator to the Snowball Dining Room to start our journey....

Jun 25, 2012 - Slaying new invasives

I drove around the park today with a machete, small loppers, and a garbage bag. My mission was to knock down thistles, mullens, and yellow sweet clover. The temperature got up into the 90s today, so I spent most of the time in the car with with AC on! The thistles grow tall, and are very full of thorns, so the machete was definitely needed. I had to gather the flower heads and put them into a garbage bag so their seeds cannot spread. Mullen plants grow very tall also but their stems are woody with velvety leaves. I just needed to chop the...