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Day 27: Mammoth Cave National Park

Friday, Sept 30, 2022

 Got up early and was ready to leave by 7:30am because I was visiting both New River Gorge and Mammoth Cave National parks today. Also, I had made a reservation for a cave tour at 3:45pm, so needed to ensure I reach Mammoth Cave before that. 


It was very foggy on the road and in the New River Gorge park once I reached that. It was great, cool hiking weather but not much visibility into the canyon. I did the short Endless Wall Loop trail. It has several places you can optionally climb down a long steel ladder and hike along the sheer cliffs. I did not climb down the ladders, since I was hiking alone and did not want to risk it. 

The fog also obscured the view of famous New River Gorge bridge, the longest steel arch bridge in the world. It is also the 3rd highest bridge in the US.

 

 

 


 

The drive from New River Gorge to Mammoth Cave was magnificent, probably one of most picturesque during my road trip. I stopped to take a few pictures, but I wish I could have lingered longer to enjoy it. 

 




I managed to make it to Mammoth cave just in time for my Historic Cave tour. It lasts two hours, going through many of the historic areas that made the caves famous. It covers 2 miles and over 500 steps. The caves are gigantic, wide, high, huuge ...  You could literally put in a 4 lane road in some places. I've never seen a cave system as big as this before. During the tour, we also had to squeeze through some tight spots. The pictures don't do justice in capturing the scale. 




After the cave tour finished, it was a short drive to my B&B in Glasgow, Kentucky. It is a beautiful, historically significant house built in 1852. The place has been restored very well. It is surrounded by over 10 churches within a few blocks, which adds to the charm.  I loved my overnight stay in the Theodosia Room.  A bonus was I found a 240V outlet close to my parking spot and they let me charge up fully.

 

A long busy day with lots of scenic driving, lots of hiking (with a couple of miles underground) and a lovely B&B to rest overnight.  One of my favorite days in the 4 weeks so far on the road.

The raw numbers for the day:

  • 401 miles driving, 17200 steps walking
  • 2 Tesla supercharger stops, 240V overnight charging
  • 2 states - West Virginia, Kentucky

Comments

  1. VisheshOctober 9, 2022 at 7:21 PM

    Wow, so many trees! Plus the beautiful ferns yesterday; you're surely been through some lush areas in the past few days!

    ReplyDelete

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