From Arkansas to Tennessee to Mammoth Cave

Map of this blog's locations click this link to open the map

We enjoyed our stay at Maumelle Park but needed to keep heading north and east for our future stops to work out. There was one more place in Arkansas that we have a planned to stop. About 50 miles west of Memphis Tennessee is Village Creek State Park. It's a dozen miles off the expressway north of Forrest City Arkansas. The drive is only about 110 miles so we manage to get a hike in at Maumelle Park before we hit the road. It seems like many of the roads we have traveled during our brief time in Arkansas has been on relatively narrow roads. The 12 miles to Village Creek were no exception. The park has a couple different camping areas. We had picked a water and electric site instead of a full hookup site since we are only here for 2 nights. Our spot was very shaded and very deep. Two of our rigs could have occupied the place with no trouble. Being this close to Memphis, we were a bit surprised to have no over the air television channels and absolutely no cellular reception even with our booster. It's been 7 months since we have had no connectivity. Guess we will be incognito for a few days. 

Tulip Poplar Tree in Bloom

Large Wooded Site at Village Creek

Village Creek has a couple of lakes within its boundaries. We walk up to Lake Dunn, the one closest to the campgrounds. It's a pretty setting with a couple people trying their luck fishing. We spot a beaver walking along the earthen dam that creates the lake. I suspect the dam is man made or this beaver should be hired by the Corps of Engineers! We also checked out the full hookup sites and the equestrian campgrounds. The horse area was the nicest one we have ever seen. The camping sites are quite spacious and there are horse stalls that include ceiling fans - pretty fancy. 

Swimming Area at Dunn Lake

The next day we hit the trails on our mountain bikes. There are many miles of multi-use trails. The only trick is to make sure we stay on ones that allow bikes. We had identified a loop we wanted to do, but a few miles into the ride, we discovered one of the planned connector trails was closed due to high water and downed trees. We studied the map and came up with an alternate route that was a bit longer than planned. In general, the trails were in great shape although there are some pretty good climbs and subsequent downhill sections. Each trail intersection had a large trail map posted so it was relatively easy to find our way. There were definitely a large number of riders on horseback out enjoying the trails as well. I counted about two dozen in several groups. Given how full the equestrian campground was, it shouldn't have been too surprising. At about 5 miles into the ride, Chris opted to head back to camp while I continued on another loop. I ended up getting in a very nice 10 mile ride. If only we were staying longer, I would have explored some more. 

After lunch, we drove over to the visitor center to hit the trail to the other lake. Of course we could just drive to Austell Lake but where's the fun in that. The mile or so trail had a geocache along the way. It was a fair amount of up and down hiking through the woods and after the morning bike ride, the legs were definitely feeling it. Being a Saturday, there was a big crowd and lots of great smelling cookouts. The beach area was a popular spot with most of the visitors being kids. The hike back just about did us in but we checked out some of the interpretive areas in the visitor center. The park is holding a star party this evening so we plan to come back for the fun.

We have experienced a few star parties during our travels. This one started well before dark which seemed odd until we realized that it started out with a PowerPoint presentation inside a lecture room. The park personnel were not running the show but rather an astronomy group from Memphis. The presentation was fine, but the large number of children were less than thrilled with the idea of sitting still for the 30 minute lecture. The actual viewing was in the park but several miles away in the parking lot for horse trailers. There was a huge progression of cars heading to the viewing site and those not attending were likely wondering what was going on as nearly 40 vehicles drove by. The members of the astronomy group had setup 4 different areas with telescopes each pointed on a different star. It was fun but a bit difficult to get this many people to move from one spot to the next in an orderly fashion in the dark of night. As the crowd thinned out, it became easier to get time on a telescope but we eventually got tired and headed back to camp.

The next day was a simple travel day. Our destination was Cave City Kentucky near Mammoth Cave National Park. It is about 370 miles away so we will be trying to stop somewhere along the way. The original plan was to get well over halfway there before just doing a simple Walmart stop. The drive around Memphis was pretty easy but being a Sunday morning helped with traffic. Just before we get to Jackson Tennessee along Interstate 40, we hit a major construction backup. The dash cam video later showed it took us an hour and 19 minutes to travel 7.75 miles. By then our patience was shot and being a hot and humid day, we headed to a KOA campground in Hurricane Mills. Not our cheapest layover stop, but we had air conditioning all night long. Our rig with Jeep still in tow is longer than our camping spot, but they stage the overnight guests so that nobody needs to drive past the spot we are at. I did a brief walk to for a geocache just outside of Loretta Lynn's Kitchen. Didn't go in to see if she was working the grill.

Outside Loretta Lynn's Kitchen

The next day's drive was a much easier one. We stuck around the campgrounds long enough to let the rush hour traffic around Nashville be reduced by the time we arrive. We had booked a private campground not far from Mammoth Cave. Singing Hills Campground is a smallish park with only about 30 sites. Many of them wouldn't fit a rig our size but ours was plenty big enough once I figured out the proper approach to back into it. We arrived early enough that we could head into town to explore a bit. Wigwam Village is one of those unique roadside motels from yesteryear. Built in the 1930's, there are 15 wigwams that you can rent out like any other motel room. The place wasn't empty but close to it. I suppose it could be an interesting stop as you on your road trip and could even be your home base for Mammoth Cave. 

4 Wigwams

Wigwam Office

In the next town north, Horse Cave Kentucky, is R&S Salvage Groceries. It is an Amish store but unlike one we have ever experienced. Most Amish stores are an outbuilding on the farm with the children selling yummy baked goods. This one is a huge building with all sorts of scratch and dent food items for sale at reduced prices. It wasn't what we were expecting nor what we wanted but we wandered the aisles until we stumbled onto the bakery, meat and grocery area. We found quite a few items to buy and was pleased to see they even accepted credit cards. 

We are at this stop for five nights giving us four full days to explore. We had booked three cave tours on different afternoons with the hope of doing hikes or other outside things in the cooler morning hours. One of the more popular tours isn't offered until after Memorial Day, but we pick three that sounded interesting. The heat and humidity wasn't all that conducive to any big hikes but we did manage to get in a short hike within the national park before our first tour. This trail is on the west side of the park and requires a short ferry ride to get over the Green River. The crossing is maybe 250 feet wide and the ferry is tethered to overhead cables on both the upstream and downstream sides. The current wasn't very strong while we were here but I suppose it might get worse during heavy rains. The operator doesn't have much to do other than raise and lower the entrance/exit ramps and change direction. He sits in a booth and we never even see him come out during our multiple crossings. Two vehicles can fit at a time and we never saw much of a delay to get across.

Ferry Crossing Green River

Sloans Crossing Pond

Dragonfly at Pond

The Maple Spring Trail is the starting point for several of the other hikes and is also the access to another fun sounding bike ride - the Big Hollow Trail. Unfortunately the weather never cooperated to permit us to try what looked to be a nice bike trail. Our hike was only 2 miles long but got us a little exercise before heading to the visitor center at Mammoth Cave. There are many displays about the forming of this cave as well as the history of its discovery and exploration. Some of the laser measurement tools used to fully map the various portions of the cave are pretty interesting. Currently there is just over 400 miles of interconnected caves forming the cave but that number is constantly increasing as more and more exploration happens.  

Butterfly Along Trail

Our first tour is the Historic Tour. It leaves the visitor center and enters the cave through the historic natural entrance. It's 2 miles of walking and lasts 2 hours. Our group was about 60 people with the main ranger guide and another ranger bringing up the rear. Some of the old mining equipment from the 1800's is still present along the cave not too far in. Saltpeter was mined since it was a key ingredient in making gunpowder. In the early days of cave tours, signing the cave walls was a common thing so there is old graffiti everywhere. There are lots of steps and the lighting is definitely subdued. Flash photography is not permitted for "safety" reasons. Pictures are a bit challenging. 

Heading In 

Remains of Saltpeter Mining Spot

Lots of Grafitti

Path Heads Deeper

Some of the passages are tight with limited head clearance. None require crawling (those tours do exist though) but one extremely tight section is name Fat Man's Misery. I find keeping my camera safe to be challenging at times. The cave is massive but the geology that allows for the cave to be this large - a thick sandstone cap over the limestone where the cave is - means the cave isn't wet. Water doesn't percolate down creating the weak acids that form the stalactites and stalagmites and other features of more decorative caves like Carlsbad. I'll have to admit that neither the cave nor the ranger's descriptions along the way were all that great. We left the tour somewhat disappointed.

Deep Pit

Large Sitting Area in Cave

Stairs Up

Fat Man's Misery

Why Mammoth Cave is Here

Heading Back Out

The next day we hadn't booked a cave tour with the intention of heading south to Bowling Green Kentucky to visit the Corvette Museum. I'm not a huge car nut but I still enjoy this type of venue. Unfortunately they are not currently giving tours of the nearby factory which would have been very fun to see. We might put this back on our list when the tours are offered again after early 2019. At $10 per person, the museum was a fun and cheap way to spend several hours. I suppose diehard Corvette fans would spend the full day reading every display. There are probably close to a hundred cars displayed in the museum, and other than a few, they are in pristine condition. One of the displays was a huge mural of an old Vette made up of about 1300 smaller photos of the cars sent in by owners. From a distance, it looks pretty good but when you get close the overall image is lost as you see the detail in the smaller photos.

Distance View of Mural

Close-up of Mural

One of the more fascinating parts of the museum was a "display" that was never designed to be part of the experience. Many people have seen the closed circuit video from the museum security cameras from February 12, 2014. (Corvette Museum Sinkhole) In the predawn hours, a 30 foot deep sinkhole opened up in the main display area and swallowed 8 of the Corvettes. One whole room is now dedicated to the sinkhole including the geology of the area which explained why it happened and how they removed the cars and how they fixed the hole. I found it very interesting. Inside the Skydome, they now have red and yellow tape along the concrete floor showing both the sinkhole and cave outline so one can easily get a feel for the enormity of the hole while walking around.

Entering New Area Dedicated to Cave In

Red Tape Marks Sinkhole

Mushed

They have restored 3 of the eight vehicles damaged. The others were too far gone to make them worth fixing. However they do have all the vehicles back in the original position they were prior to the event. The dirt and debris was left in place on the damaged cars so it is clear they were wrecked underground rather than just some horrible car pileup. They have a manhole that goes to the bottom of the sinkhole with a glass cover so you can look down into the abyss. 

Beyond Hope

Looking Down Manhole

Barely Recognizable

One of Each Generation

Rare Colors

There is another room toward the end of the tour that houses other vehicles with historical significance to transportation in Kentucky over the ages. It includes a tractor, motorcycle, Jeep, stagecoach and many others. As we were coming out of the museum, we heard an announcement over the PA system. Somebody was driving their brand new Corvette off the floor of the museum. It looked like all the employees and many of the visitors were standing around giving the owner an ovation. 

The next day we headed back to Mammoth Cave and did another couple miles of hiking along the Sinkhole and Echo River Spring Trails. Along the way, we ran into another couple who happened to be doing the same geocache we were. After a brief discussion, we discovered they too are full time RV travelers and after going to the geocaching event in Cincinnati, will be heading to western New York to work at Darien Lake Amusement Park. It sometimes seems like a small world when we can run into people like this during our travels.

The tour for this afternoon is the Domes and Dripstones Tour. This one starts from a different entrance so the first and last part are a bus ride about four miles each way. The cave portion of the tour is just under a mile long. There are lots of steps. The ranger for this tour was much more entertaining. It likely helped that this tour takes us to one of the few places in Mammoth Cave with decorative formations. The Frozen Niagara isn't a very large area. It isn't even big enough for all the group to be in the one area at the same time. We file through, listen to the ranger answer a question or two, take some pictures and then move along so others can do the same. This was a fun tour. Nothing nearly as dramatic as Carlsbad but a big improvement over the Historic Tour from two days ago.

Descending 

Another Deep Hole

Flat Ceiling

Dual Stairs to See Cave Features

Water Pouring Through Opening

Our Bus Awaits

Our last full day brought us one last tour. The Great Onyx Tour is only offered once a week so you really need to plan ahead if you want this one. It too required a bus ride to yet another entrance. This cave isn't connected to main cave in Mammoth, or at least they haven't discovered the passageway that does so. This cave was part of a private cave tour years ago. There are still a few private cave tours in the surrounding area but years ago, there were numerous competing cave owners vying for the tourist's money. This cave doesn't have electricity run into it so roughly every third or fourth person is asked to carry a Coleman lantern. We've lucked out and have another very enthusiastic ranger giving the tour. With only lantern light, I didn't even bother bringing my camera except for the iPhone. In hindsight, the lanterns provided adequate lighting and people were willing to hold one to light some feature along the way. This was a fun tour and a good way to end our stay near Mammoth Cave National Park. Next stop Cincinnati.