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Mammoth Cave among top wonders
MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK — Smithsonian Magazine has picked the top national wonders in the continental United States. Mammoth Cave National Park was ranked eighth on the list.
“It’s really cool to be recognized with all these other well-known places and to realize Mammoth Cave is thought of at that caliber,” said Vickie Carson, spokesperson for the national park.
Mammoth Cave is the longest cave in the world. Approximately 360 miles have been surveyed so far and geologists estimate that the cave system’s total length is about 1,000 miles, according to the magazine article.
The cave runs through 350-million-year-old limestone composed partly of shells deposited when Kentucky was at the bottom of a shallow sea, the article said.
Mammoth Cave features stalactites, stalagmites, gypsum crystals, blind fish, narrow passages and bottomless pits.
People from all over the world come to see the massive cave. In 2008 the national park had 584,000 visitors, Carson said.
Fourteen tours of the cave are offered during the summer months, and cave tours are available throughout the year except on Christmas Day.
The national park, which also features camping, hiking and bicycling, is open year round.
This summer the national park has been offering free Discovery and Mammoth Passage tours of the cave. The free tours will be offered again this weekend. Visitors may pick up tickets between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“The free tours were offered as part of a National Park Service initiative which eliminated park entrance fees on three weekends this summer. Though Mammoth Cave National Park does not charge an entrance fee to the park, Superintendent Patrick Reed embraced the spirit of the Service-wide order by offering self-guided Mammoth Cave Discovery Tours and guided Mammoth Passage Tours free of charge,” Carson said. The free tours will be offered Saturday and Sunday and again on National Park Service’s Founder’s Day on Aug. 25, she said.
Taking the No. one spot in the ranking was the Grand Canyon in Arizona, followed by Yellowstone National Park in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, Niagara Falls in New York, Meteor Crater in Arizona, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in Oregon, La Brea Tar Pits in California, San Andreas Fault at the Carrizo Plain in California, Mammoth Cave, The Ice Age Flood Trail in Washington, Oregon and Idaho and the Lava Beds National Monument in California.
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