We've been seeing the Eastern Redbuds in bloom throughout North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. They are finally in full bloom!
Jerry Bransford was our parks guide. His ancestor, Materson Bransford, was one of the first slave guides who's legacy survived, unbroken, for more than a century. Materson was the property of Thomas Bransford and he lived out his years of slavery at Mammoth Cave. He was rented to the owners of Mammoth Cave for $100.00 a year! He also lived all his years of manumission as a guide at Mammoth Cave. Jerry was raised on Flint Hill until the parks department took their family land to make Mammoth Cave National Park. He is the last Bransford to work here and at one time as many as 9 family members worked for the park system. If you want to know more, check out Making Their Mark, the Signature of Slavery at Mammoth Cave written by Joy Medley Lyons.
Our entrance to Mammoth Cave... there are many; some barred so only bats can enter, some private, and some yet undiscovered! There are over 400 miles of mapped tunnels but scientists estimate there are 600 more miles of undiscovered, unmapped tunnels.
Stalagmites are formed from calcium salts deposited by dripping water on the cave floor.
Stalactites are formed on the ceiling of the cave by calcium salts from dripping water, much like icicles are formed.
Cave crickets - we saw lots and lots of these cool critters!
Crystal Lake
More stalactites.
You can't really see this very well but water is continually flowing from this crack in the cave ceiling. When the water table is high, it really pours!
Stairs to Frozen Niagara
This one stalagmite was surrounded by columns. Columns are formed when stalagmites and stalactites meet.
A bat! It was exciting to actually see one hanging on a low shelf right at eye level.
A car wash for your shoes! Why, you ask? A fungal disease called White-nose Syndrome is spreading through bat populations in North America. It is responsible for the catastrophic loss of millions of hibernating bats. By cleaning the bottoms of our shoes hopefully we won't spread the disease any further.
White-tail deer we saw while driving through the park.
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