We Visited the Longest Cave System in the World!

We had a strange reason for traveling to southern Kentucky, but one of the best parts about RV life is getting to create our own journey as we go along. To our pleasant surprise, the Dale Hollow Lake area was fantastic. Granted, we could have dealt with less hot, sticky weather, but the entire Midwest was under a massive heat advisory, so there weren't many places we could run. The heat didn't stop us from wanting to learn about this area, one that, in a different life, we would have never made a destination.

Sometimes learning about the less famous US landmarks is extra fun. Sure, we can go to National Parks and be dazzled, but there is so much here in America that is fascinatingly educational. We arrived to Dale Hollow with next to no knowledge about the lake. While visiting the area, we learned that the lake is actually a Reservoir, formed by the Army Corps of Engineers in an attempt at flood reduction in the 1930s. It's a huge reservoir, covering 43 square miles and containing over 600 miles of shoreline in both the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. The Corps of Engineers is responsible for maintaining waterways. You may recall from our Florida campgrounds post that the COE often has campgrounds right along the water. At Dale Hollow, the COE built a dam in the Obey River, which helped reduce flow to the Cumberland River. In order to create the flood reduction, a town needed to be purchased by the government and evacuated so that it could be submerged. The town of Willow Grove has barely any underwater remnants, but in times when the water is shallow enough, the foundation of a school building can be seen when looking down from above. SCUBA divers have also been able to visit this foundation on their dives. Vacating entire towns isn't uncommon during reservoir building projects. Back home in Massachusetts, Quabbin Reservoir, which supplies water to Boston, also has an underwater town.

We talked about the amenities at Dale Hollow Lake State Park in our last blog post, but we didn't just stay at the park. We wanted to see the dam for ourselves, so one afternoon, we ventured back across the border into Tennessee and headed over to the national recreation area. We checked out the COE campground, which was lovely, but the sites weren't near the water. There was a boat ramp into the Obey River on the "flow" side of the dam, but we were unnerved by the sheer intensity of the river rapids in that area. Signs were posted everywhere warning boaters of the "turbulence" when loading their boats into the river. No thanks!

Up the hill from the campground was the dam, which houses an impressive hydroelectric power plant. Next to the dam are overlooks and picnic tables. We were surprised by the freedom we had to explore the area. Not a lot outside the dam was off-limits. There were stairs leading down to the power house, right alongside the dam. You could walk right up to the dam and touch it if you wanted to. We saw a family climb down the hill on the lake-side of the dam to take a dip in the water. Best of all, we discovered that the dam is drivable! We could enjoy this feat of engineering from literally all angles. Who knew that Dale Hollow would offer us so many educational opportunities, as well as hidden gems of beauty?! I guess we have Google to thank for these experiences.

Though we thoroughly enjoyed our time learning about the reservoir, we couldn't leave the area without a trip to a place a little more famous. We were staying only an hour and a half from Mammoth Cave, and we're always up for adding a new National Park to our list. Kentucky has lots of cave systems, but what makes Mammoth special is that it's the longest known cave system in the world! As of September 2021, the length is calculated at 420 miles, but more sections are most certainly not yet discovered. The National Park is best known for a large selection of cave tours, but you can also hike trails and head out on the Green River. Since we only had one day to visit the park, we reserved a cave tour. Reservations are hard to come by, especially when booking at the last minute, but we were lucky to grab same-day tickets, likely due to a cancellation. (Piece of advice: If you initially don't see available tickets for your date of choice, check the morning of, as more tickets might become available). We went on the Domes and Dripstones tour, a 2-hour guided trek to gaze upon a cave sinkhole, lots of limestone layers, and finally, the "Frozen Niagara," a section of stalagmites and stalactites. The tour, while less than a mile long, includes close to 600 stairs and some steep slippery switchbacks, but the pace is slow, making the hike manageable for all ages. The cave system is so intricate and has so much history that we can only encourage you to do some research and read up on it - or better yet, visit the cave for yourself! We were mesmerized by the rock formations, which looked like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. Can you just imagine the early discoverers of this system, traveling into the deep, rugged darkness with no idea just how far the cave went? And just when they thought they had seen it all, there was more to behold just around the next corner. In our tour we learned about "cave wars," which occurred before Mammoth Cave became a National Park. As tourism to the cave increased, it was every man out for himself trying to get a piece of the pie. Owners of one side of the cave would make every attempt possible to steal customers away from the other side, and they played dirty! From claiming that their side of the cave was prettiest, to lying about the other side of the cave being closed, to falsely warning visitors of a Tuberculosis outbreak across town, greed was a major player. Who can blame them?! They certainly knew they were in the presence of a really incredible geological formation. Thankfully our tour was more subdued, not to mention we had the modern technologies of electricity and stairs to help us out. Tours are only held in a very small section of the cave, but we really got a feel for the blending of science and history surrounding us. We got a taste of the underground, but we know we just touched the surface of what Mammoth Cave has to offer.

Kentucky shaped up to be one heck of a cool state. It could quite likely get the award for "best surprise" in our travels of 2022 and was a great reminder of how extraordinary the geology of the US is. We traveled halfway across the Atlantic to experience a cave in Iceland, and of course that was impressive. But you don't need to hop a plane and travel to a different country to witness geological marvels. Our backyard is so wonderfully diverse and awe-inspiring. Let's keep taking care of our land and learning about what makes it special, so that we can pass these memorable experiences on for many generations to come.