Fun fact...that same water flowing through limestone that made the caves, removes most of the iron, and has a high PH. It filters the water that flows into the rivers making the river water in parts of Kentucky perfect for making Bourbon (and fermentation). That's why most of the best Bourbon comes from Kentucky. It's the limestone filtered river water.
10 million years ago? That is another important point in Kentucky’s history. That’s how long ago Mitch McConnell last met with any voters face to face.
And we are still actively exploring the cave and finding new connections every year. Also, in addition to the more familiar drip stone formations like Frozen Niagara, there's an abundance of gypsum formations and rare salts that change with the seasons. It is truly one of my favorite places under the earth.
He doesn't actually work exploring caves. Aaron is just another wishful wannabe 🤡 important explorer but lives in his mommas basement can't get a job millenial. 🤦
@@pookhahare No, and it's very unlikely that they every will, although it's possible that a hydrologic connection might be found. I don't know what the longest straight line distance between parts of a known cave is, but I think it's far less than the distance between the nearest parts of Mammoth and Bowling Green. If you look at the terrain view in Google Maps you'll see that Bowling Green is far south in the sinkhole plain, while all known parts of Mammoth are in the uplands to the north and west of the sinkhole plain. The best chance is probably that at times of high water some water from Mammoth might make it into a conduit that waters from BG also get to, but that's very different than cavers being able to make the same trip.
I used to live in mammoth cave national park, it’s gorgeous truly, year round! I went into caves that had cave art, and stone slabs that functioned as tables and chairs. Caves that made me turn right back around. Definitely remember exploring with friends and having some of the most memorable moments of my life. So many close calls, cliff climbing, rappelling, running around being free. There are so many cave openings and waterfalls, and lakes. Man, I miss that place! Glad I survived so many reckless days 😂
It's a good one to go to, I think you'd really enjoy it! Something to keep in mind: all visits into the cave require a tour so make sure to book early! Also: have to make my way up to more Canadian parks. Been to Banff, but it's such a beautiful country I need to see more of.
I know of one part of the cave system that is not open to the public. I was lucky enough to be able to be in a small group allowed to visit this cave and the features were amazing. That was the first time I had ever seen a cave straw. They are hollow tubes that form and are the size of a large straw. They also had areas of sand in the floor to observe any animal or insect tracks made. Great video! You should do lost river cave just west of there in Bowling Green, KY.
Yeah, only 10% of the cave system is open to the public at all! Which makes it all the more insane just how much of that cave we'll never see. Thanks for watching!
When I was in high-school I explored with a team portions of a cave system in Tennessee near norris lake that was believed to eventually join the Mammoth cave system. We had to abandon our mission due to toxic levels of bat guana
There's absolutely zero chance that the Mammoth cave system extends even as far as the TN border. Unless the TN cave was well north of Norris Lake there's almost certainly zero chance that it even reaches the nearest point of the KY border.
I lived in Great Onyx Job Corps on Mammoth Cave National Park for 10 months and it was a wildd experience. But yeah that cave is huge, its so big that you can't truly grasp its magnitude (even through photos) until you've been there yourself. Its literally the size of stadium in some places. It is soo quiet in there that when everyone goes silent you can hear your own heartbeat. When you're going through the turn off the lights for a few seconds so you can get the idea of how scary it truly is, and within seconds you can tell that you would go insane within minutes if left in there alone. I went the day of my graduation and smoked weed for the first time in about 6 months and I was soooo high and it such a wild experience. Also, since it was the first time I had been high in so long I walked up to a random couple from Germany (thinking they were my parents) and started just talking like they were my parents and they turned around and instinctively spoke to me in German and I was like "huh?" and they went back to English and was like "yeah dude we're tourists not ur parents" and then when we finally left the cave my dumbass accidentally walked into the womans bathroom and didnt realize until i was on the way out. (I really had to pee) TMI but idc it was a great bookend to my vocational schooling.
I was so excited to see the title of this! I visited Mammoth Cave when I was 4 yo, and of course Mom wouldn't let me or my sister next up in age go 'sploring :( although the older kids could. Now that I live in Ohio, I told my oldest sis/sib/housemate that we're DEFINITELY going to Mammoth Cave, long enough so I can explore it properly (within NPS guidelines, of course!). Thanks so much, I've saved this to my Science, Geology playlist. (Oh yeah, I had a sweatshirt from my visit years ago, and wore that thing till it fell apart -- seriously, I lived in it.)
Join your local National Speleological Society Grotto (caving club)! There are lots of people who can help you safely explore Mammoth if you make connections
I live in Louisville, was just at Mammoth Cave in May. Its a long, sometimes boring, huge cave. Some caves have a lot of interesting features and Mammoth Cave certainly does but they are spread out and the cave has stayed mostly dry, so fewer stalagmites and stalactites. Highly recommend checking it out, its seriously huge and very beautiful. PS: Buddy you nailed it, you know your stuff. Nice work!
I was there back in June and had a wonderful time. I was just so impressed with the Cave the entire time I was in it. I'll second your recommendation, for sure. Thanks for watching!
I find this very fascinating as I live in Western Ky, (the western coal fields) And we took a field trip to Mammoth cave when I was in school and it was extremely amazing to traverse through the cave and take a boat ride into the cave! Very awesome video! It is worth going out of your way to visit this national monument.
Features are usually just named for whatever human stuff they are in or near, as for the time periods, they are often named for the location where rocks of that age were first identified (by Western science). Permian is named after an historical region in Russia called Perm. Cambrian is named for Cambria, a latinized form of the Welsh name for Wales. Ediacaran is named for the Ediacara hills in Australia. Devonian is named for Devon, England. Jurassic is named for the Jura mountains on the French/Swiss boarder
Howdy from Kentucky! I've been anticipating your Mammoth Cave video. You did not disappoint. You are a great teacher as you entertain while conveying interesting information. I know more now about Mammoth Cave than I ever have. Thank you for that. I hope you enjoyed our lovely state. Looking forward to Cave Wars.
Glad you liked it, thanks for watching! You have a beautiful state and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Cave Country. Mammoth Cave far exceeded my expectations and I was just captivated the entire time I was there. I'll definitely be back.
When I was like 3 years old in like 1970 a geologist was in a fissure in Mammoth Cave the ceiling collapsed and he was crushed. They cut his feet off and you could still see his leg bones. I am 55 I will never forget that.
Maybe a little morbid but what did they do with the feet? It would have perhaps been a fitting tribute to put them under a dripping formation so crystals would have grown on the bone and turned ugly death into a beautiful mix of the eldritch and earthy. Sorry if that is too weird. It was one of those nights where you lay almost asleep wondering if John Wane Gacy really wrote a book series called Harlequin Bromances.
You're confused about at least one story, and possibly combining bits of multiple stories. My guess is that you're (mostly) thinking about Floyd Collins, who died in a small cave that's in the park (which didn't exist when he died) after his leg was pinned by a rock that fell on it in a tight crawlway. Sometime later his body was put on display, in a coffin with a glass lid, in Crystal cave, which he had discovered on the family farm. Still later, his body was stolen and then recovered near the Green River. IIRC, one of his legs was not found. I haven't watched the cave wars video, but that has to include some info about Floyd Collins, even if it doesn't mention the body being stolen.
Love the video! Very informative. Disappointing to see the comment section littered with religious fanatics who think the earth is only thousands of years old, but doesn’t detract from the video! Keep up the great content and regular uploads and I can easily see this channel amassing a lot of subscribers
Definitely! I've covered a surprising amount of geology topics on this channel so far just because it's so interesting. It's also a chance for me to learn about topics I otherwise wouldn't!
Fantastic video! I've been watching your channel since the early days and your presentation just keeps getting better and better. Congratulations on the explosion in subscribers and the Patreon account! This was really informative and inspires me to travel to Kentucky just to see this. I''l be looking forward to the Kentucky Cave Wars episode! ~ Mike
Thanks Mike, your support really means a lot. You've been here since the early days and it doesn't go unnoticed! Enjoy your travels to Kentucky - I recommend as many cave tours as your schedule allows!
Been to Mammoth Cave National Park and it's beautiful. Funny you mention the pocked mark landscape because the Nashville Dome is like that. The Nashville Dome is part of the Cincinnati Arch. It's the southern part of the Arch, and funny that it's called a dome. If you have ever been to Nashville you would know and can see there is no dome. The Cumberland River and its many tributaries over the millenia the dome has melted away the limestone leaving the Cumberland Valley. There is still limestone beneath Nashville and you can see the dome in the highland rim as it circles the city of Nashville.
Thank you! There are certainly plenty of caves to talk about. This is my second and I'll be producing a video on the Kentucky Cave Wars as well. Lots to see, but I'm sure this won't be the last time I talk about caves!
Your video brought back happy memories. Years ago my husband and I before we retired, visited Mammoth Cave. We spent the day there and had a wonderful time.
I like your channel a lot. I feel like these are good quality videos and research put into them. Carlsbad cavern could be a fun future video. I havent been to Carlsbad since i was a teenager.
I just visited Maquoketa Caves State Park in Iowa and got a kick out of spotting a lot of stock footage from there used in your video! >;D If you're in the midwest I'd highly recommend, it's a pretty compact and dense park and I found out I loved climbing and squeezing down into underground creek beds as well as the tourist grade guided pathways! (Remember to pack decent kneepads and an old bike helmet!)
Haha, yes, good spot! That footage worked really well for the feeling I was going for in the video. Looked cool though, might have to check it out if I'm ever in the area.
Nice presentation. Couple of notes. You have the cart before the horse in describing the gradient of the limestone layers. That's not a result of the Green River cutting down into its bed, but of ancient uplift of the plateau by tectonic forces, which long predate the Green River's formation. That gradient, called the "regional dip" is very slight, about one degree, inclined to the northwest, and it is the fact that the regional dip is so mild that gives Mammoth Cave its incredible connectivity, and hence, length. The dip is not perfectly uniform: there are minor variations here and there in slope and direction, and those local variances mean that the passages don't all flow in the direction of the regional dip, but meander sideways to the regional dip as well, where they may chance to intersect with other passages.
Living in Louisville, I think I've been on every tour they have available. We had field trip after field trip to Mammoth Cave. The one I remember the most was the one with the boat ride. You can see the fish in the River that evolved in complete darkness and because of that, they have no eyes. It was just amazing.
I think they've actually discontinued the boat tour. But I'm agreed on the diversity of tours they offer! One of my regrets from my first visit is that I didn't do more than one tour!
Great video. Spent my summers during college spelunking around the edges of Mammoth. Your video brought back some great memories and scary nightmares. :)
@@NationalParkDiaries the hollow earth , animals went through there to go through the hollow earth , there’s videos of living mammoths you wouldn’t imagine , search up admiral Byrd
The hollow world, the Agharta land of advanced races,the lost land whatever you want to call it I've been studying it for about 2 months now I actually ran into some mind blowing information that's how I end up watching this video because one of the entrances are located in that cave well there's two ways actually. I have been buying old original Maps and I came across a map that's very interesting can't really say much but I'll leave you wit this Admiral Byrd found out the truths to this world 😉
The Kentucky mammoth cave is also an entrance into inner earths Agartha network. Admiral Byrd wrote about going to inner earth Via the north pole and there are maps showing Kentucky mammoth cave as being one of the entrances
400 miles to center of gravity another 400 to well you know. It really exists and when they did a probe they found a huge land mass and a ocean hitting the shore line. That being said admiral byrd who went to Anartica wrote about it.. look at china they found a whole eco system in a cave. It exist can't tell you how I know but yes it's there and it is mind blowing. Clouds and oceans and mountains and well go and fund out.
Had a chance to visit the caves on my road trip home from Texas but the tickets were sold out for the day. We did a small hike and I took a couple neat pictures of the place @12:59
That does not sound wise. Make sure you have a sitter or that the cave is a popular spot or you could end up dead. Finding your way around is hard enough on acid, I don’t even want to think about struggling with that in a dark cave
You may what could’ve been a boring science lecture and do something that was not only interesting but fun to listen to. I have been to Carlsbad caverns, next video? Now I want to go and visit Mammoth Cave.
Thanks Joe, glad you enjoyed it! I'm sure I'll do something on Carlsbad Caverns at some point - these cave videos seem to capture my imagination lol. But yes, I highly recommend Mammoth Cave - it far exceeded my expectations!
I live about 2 hours from Mammoth cave. While not as big caver, I love the park, the cave . Its all so cool and the geology,, limestone, karst...natural filtration. Ah, I just get all geeky
I used to enjoy making mazes as a young kid. I wonder if that was some dna-thing from ancestors long ago, societies of people living in, or at least, using caves. Interesting stuff.
Just went to Mammoth Cave for the first time two weeks ago . The tour guide was telling us that Native americas would explore the caves , and would chip off gypsum from the walls. I wonder what they used that for?
They didn't leave a memoir, but using epsomite as a laxative seems like one very likely use. Salts Cave, where most of the aboriginal mining took place, gets it's name because epsomite and other minerals mined there are types of salt. It therefore seems likely that they may have been used as a form of seasoning salt.
Great video! I haven't been to Mammoth cave since I was a kid, and now that I'm about to turn 30 I'm itching to go. Luckily it's only about 3 1/2 hours from me!
Thanks! Yeah, I highly recommend it! I went last month and had blast. It's just really cool knowing you're walking around in the world's largest cave lol
@@NationalParkDiaries Any suggested trails? I really want to do some caving/spelunking, but I'm not sure if they offer it at the National Park. Thanks for the reply!
@@kyleburnett1618 Yes! All entry to the cave is through guided NPS tours. I did the Grand Avenue tour, which is the longest and I really enjoyed it. I would also recommend doing multiple tours if you can. I really wanted to do the Historic Tour and one of the lantern tours, but didn't book them in time. They sell out quick, so plan ahead! If you're looking to do some hiking above the surface, the park has a bunch of backcountry trails on the North side of the Green River, but I found the trails near the visitor center to be quite nice. I'd definitely recommend going to see the two springs - Echo River and River Styx - where the underground rivers meet the surface. Super cool to see after you know where all that water has come from. Best of luck in your travels!
I love your videos, but the caves one are my personal favorite. Last year I did 4 cave tours in Texas with my girlfriend. We went to Long Horn cavern state park, natural bridge caverns, the inner space cavern, and wonder world cave. Long Horn cavern had some beautiful and impressive tunnels carved out by the ancient underground rivers, and there even is a naturally carved stone the size and shaped of a dog, and some interesting history with the natives. Natural Bridge caverns has some impressive limestone formations that you have to go somewhere like Carlsbad to see even large and more impressive formations. Inner Space Cavern has some fascinating fossils found in the cave. During the ice age several sinkholes into the cavern were formed, and some animals fell into the holes and their bodies got preserved. Some of the fossils found include baby mammoth, saber tooth tiger, giant sloth, and Tetrameryx (ancient pronghorns). Wonder world cave is supposedly the only commercially operated dry formed cave in the United States. The cave was formed from a ancient earthquake and on the cave tour you can see the fault itself very clearly visible in the cave's ceiling. The cave sits on top of Edwards aquifer and when the cave floods it drains into the aquifer. The cave also used to be home to a underground nightclub.
Thank you! Yeah, the caves are very fascinating to me. There's just something mysterious and alluring about them. I'm sure there will be plenty more cave videos to come!
I went to see both the River Styx Spring and the Echo River Spring when I was there and it was just so cool to see knowing where that water had been and the journey it had taken. Very cool area.
The man who mapped it was a free slave to the owner who owned the moutain... There a Family grave site of Him and family... He mapped the Mamouth cave by candle light.... Also invented black powder from bat guano.. Which Was sold to both sides of the civil war... An American unsung Hero...
Geologic times are very interesting, I love the time tables and the different phases of the earth's crust. I'm just 4 hour's from Mammoth Caves & hopefully I'll be able to visit them soon. WV wild & wonderful 💚
Haha, yeah the scale of geologic time always blows my mind when I think about it... But yes, highly recommend a visit to Mammoth Cave - well worth the visit!
@@NationalParkDiaries It’s a good hike if you do the entire thing. Marble Mountain trail is really nice too. Some active vents and good skiing late into spring.
Academia call ancient tunnel systems "caves" or "cave systems" so that we won't wonder where the tunnels lead. If they're caves, they have an end. If they're tunnels . . . All ancient tunnels are either: 1) closed to the public (sometimes for the legitimate reason of safety, like KTK Tunnel in Visoko, Bosnia), 2) gated (like Stanton's "Cave," located alongside the Colorado River), 3) filled in (like the "cave" near Istria, Croatia; see video titled, "CONCRETE OF THE ANCIENTS: Exploring a Prehistoric Cavern in Istria, Croatia, April 9, 2017"), or 4) sectioned off inside (like Mammoth "Cave").
"People have died exploring Mammoth Caves..." Sort of. The most famous death of an explorer in Mammoth Caves, that of (William) Floyd Collins, was likely caused by his discharge of DYNAMITE charges in the general area 4 days earlier. Source is the floydcollins blog category background, which I can't directly link because then TH-cam removes my comments. Wasn't the safest move on Collins' part...
One important note: most colas, including Coca-Cola us phosphoric acid, not just carbonic acid like most other sodas. It’s worse for your teeth than something like sprite or orange soda.
Yeah but even sodas like ginger ale, sprite, and others are stupid acidic as well. Coke is like 2.4, with the rest I mentioned being like 2.9-3.1. Super acidic and just not conducive for good oral health lol. If you drink soda try to use a straw to bypass your teeth. Dentin and enamel dissolve below 6.5 and 5.5 respectively, so take care of ya teeth
I've been to Mammoth Cave before. The sections I went through were huge, but are there any parts of it that are as tight as the infamous Nutty Putty Cave in Utah?
I've never been to the Nutty Putty Cave, and have only done one tour in Mammoth, but I think, for the publicly accessible parts of the Cave at least, they're generally pretty open. There were a few slot canyons in the section I explored that were maybe 1.5 of me wide, but I never felt I had to "squeeze" or anything like that. I didn't explore this section, but I do know there is an area of the Cave called "Fat Man's Misery," which is supposed to be pretty tight.
Nutty Putty probably has spots that are tighter than the spot where the guy died. Mammoth definitely has spots that are too small to get through. Sometimes there's another route to the other side, and you could reach through and touch somebody if you were both there at the same time. Sometimes the passage may dead end beyond a spot you can't get through, and some things you can't get to eventually connect to another known section but coming from that side also takes you to a spot you can't fit through that's far enough from the other one that you don't know they're both part of the same passage. There could potentially be miles of cave that are between two spots that re too tight for explorers to get through, and will never be sen unless another way in is discovered.
when i was in high school i lived in crawfordsville, in and my science teacher claimed to be part of a team that discovered another section of mammoth cave.
You could do a nice little cute flyover of the Natural Bridge State Park and the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky the real beautiful place with a lot of hiking opportunities in some wonderful places for you to take a drone pictures if they will allow you. Go there
i did the big tour when i was a kid AND IT WAS BAD AZZ there was a drop off that had no bottom and we walked up stairs over it. and there is a HUGE room they had lights in and it was so cool and there was a waterfall underground.
Very cool! I did the Grand Avenue Tour myself when I was there back in June. I really wish I did more, but now I just have an excuse to go back lol. Such a cool place!
@@NationalParkDiaries yea it truly is i went back when they had the free tour it was not as fun but still cool. wished i would of paid for the big one at the time but now i wont be able to go anymore.
Why do these periods have north american names? Because they were described there, just like the Devonian is named after Devon in England, where "good" rocks of that age were described.
Everyone needs to go watch Internet Historian's latest video, Man In Cave, about Floyd Collings. It's horrifying, but it gives you a good impression as to the dangers of exploring the caves in Kentucky.
Its a big shame that the cattle lots in Woodburn kentucky is dumping dead cows and waste products into the cave system. Would be good for the EPA to check into it closer on walnut lane
You bring up a good point about Karst systems in general. Pollutants enter the groundwater very quickly and can then degrade the cave habitat. To my knowledge though, the park has been successful on several occasions with managing nearby agricultural pollutants.
Fun fact...that same water flowing through limestone that made the caves, removes most of the iron, and has a high PH. It filters the water that flows into the rivers making the river water in parts of Kentucky perfect for making Bourbon (and fermentation). That's why most of the best Bourbon comes from Kentucky. It's the limestone filtered river water.
Let’s hear it for cave water and bourbon
Narration - At that time Kentucky was dry.
Me - But what about the bourbon, there surely wasn't prohibition back then?
I've heard this is the case for the Thoroughbreds also!
That's why Jack Daniels uses water from an underground limestone stream.
@@NationalParkDiaries I came here to say just this
10 million years ago? That is another important point in Kentucky’s history. That’s how long ago Mitch McConnell last met with any voters face to face.
You get my lol
😅❤
And we are still actively exploring the cave and finding new connections every year. Also, in addition to the more familiar drip stone formations like Frozen Niagara, there's an abundance of gypsum formations and rare salts that change with the seasons. It is truly one of my favorite places under the earth.
It's an incredible place, I agree!
Can I help explore? No previous experience, but you gotta start sometime!
He doesn't actually work exploring caves. Aaron is just another wishful wannabe 🤡 important explorer but lives in his mommas basement can't get a job millenial. 🤦
Did they ever prove cave system under bowling green connects mammoth
@@pookhahare No, and it's very unlikely that they every will, although it's possible that a hydrologic connection might be found. I don't know what the longest straight line distance between parts of a known cave is, but I think it's far less than the distance between the nearest parts of Mammoth and Bowling Green. If you look at the terrain view in Google Maps you'll see that Bowling Green is far south in the sinkhole plain, while all known parts of Mammoth are in the uplands to the north and west of the sinkhole plain. The best chance is probably that at times of high water some water from Mammoth might make it into a conduit that waters from BG also get to, but that's very different than cavers being able to make the same trip.
I used to live in mammoth cave national park, it’s gorgeous truly, year round! I went into caves that had cave art, and stone slabs that functioned as tables and chairs. Caves that made me turn right back around. Definitely remember exploring with friends and having some of the most memorable moments of my life. So many close calls, cliff climbing, rappelling, running around being free. There are so many cave openings and waterfalls, and lakes. Man, I miss that place! Glad I survived so many reckless days 😂
Sounds like quite the time!
I'm Canadian and have never been to a National park in the US. That said, I'd LOVE to go to several, and this park and cave makes my list.
It's a good one to go to, I think you'd really enjoy it! Something to keep in mind: all visits into the cave require a tour so make sure to book early!
Also: have to make my way up to more Canadian parks. Been to Banff, but it's such a beautiful country I need to see more of.
Crazy, I just saw the Frozen Niagara yesterday! Great video production, hope you get the support needed to continue the amazing videos
Frozen Niagara was so cool! Which tour did you do? And thanks for your support!
I know of one part of the cave system that is not open to the public. I was lucky enough to be able to be in a small group allowed to visit this cave and the features were amazing. That was the first time I had ever seen a cave straw. They are hollow tubes that form and are the size of a large straw. They also had areas of sand in the floor to observe any animal or insect tracks made. Great video! You should do lost river cave just west of there in Bowling Green, KY.
Yeah, only 10% of the cave system is open to the public at all! Which makes it all the more insane just how much of that cave we'll never see. Thanks for watching!
I was born near there, have relatives there, and been to Mammoth Caves more than twice. I learned more today than I knew the last 50 years! Thanks!!
Glad I could help, thanks for watching!
When I was in high-school I explored with a team portions of a cave system in Tennessee near norris lake that was believed to eventually join the Mammoth cave system. We had to abandon our mission due to toxic levels of bat guana
There's absolutely zero chance that the Mammoth cave system extends even as far as the TN border. Unless the TN cave was well north of Norris Lake there's almost certainly zero chance that it even reaches the nearest point of the KY border.
I lived in Great Onyx Job Corps on Mammoth Cave National Park for 10 months and it was a wildd experience. But yeah that cave is huge, its so big that you can't truly grasp its magnitude (even through photos) until you've been there yourself. Its literally the size of stadium in some places. It is soo quiet in there that when everyone goes silent you can hear your own heartbeat. When you're going through the turn off the lights for a few seconds so you can get the idea of how scary it truly is, and within seconds you can tell that you would go insane within minutes if left in there alone. I went the day of my graduation and smoked weed for the first time in about 6 months and I was soooo high and it such a wild experience. Also, since it was the first time I had been high in so long I walked up to a random couple from Germany (thinking they were my parents) and started just talking like they were my parents and they turned around and instinctively spoke to me in German and I was like "huh?" and they went back to English and was like "yeah dude we're tourists not ur parents" and then when we finally left the cave my dumbass accidentally walked into the womans bathroom and didnt realize until i was on the way out. (I really had to pee)
TMI but idc it was a great bookend to my vocational schooling.
being in this cave was breathataking and really helped me realize how tiny humans truly are
I had the same feeling!
Less than 6’ tall on average.
I was so excited to see the title of this! I visited Mammoth Cave when I was 4 yo, and of course Mom wouldn't let me or my sister next up in age go 'sploring :( although the older kids could. Now that I live in Ohio, I told my oldest sis/sib/housemate that we're DEFINITELY going to Mammoth Cave, long enough so I can explore it properly (within NPS guidelines, of course!). Thanks so much, I've saved this to my Science, Geology playlist. (Oh yeah, I had a sweatshirt from my visit years ago, and wore that thing till it fell apart -- seriously, I lived in it.)
Enjoy your travels! I had a blast visiting Mammoth Cave. I recommend as many tours as possible!
Join your local National Speleological Society Grotto (caving club)! There are lots of people who can help you safely explore Mammoth if you make connections
Try The Wild Cave Tour...It's great
the person who made this video has a real talent for this.. great job
Thanks so much! I truly appreciate that!
I live in Louisville, was just at Mammoth Cave in May. Its a long, sometimes boring, huge cave. Some caves have a lot of interesting features and Mammoth Cave certainly does but they are spread out and the cave has stayed mostly dry, so fewer stalagmites and stalactites. Highly recommend checking it out, its seriously huge and very beautiful.
PS: Buddy you nailed it, you know your stuff. Nice work!
I was there back in June and had a wonderful time. I was just so impressed with the Cave the entire time I was in it. I'll second your recommendation, for sure. Thanks for watching!
I find this very fascinating as I live in Western Ky, (the western coal fields) And we took a field trip to Mammoth cave when I was in school and it was extremely amazing to traverse through the cave and take a boat ride into the cave! Very awesome video! It is worth going out of your way to visit this national monument.
Thanks for watching! Totally agreed on Mammoth Cave! I was lucky enough to visit it last month and was blown away. Very worth the trip!
You deserve way more views
Thanks! All are welcome here, I'm just trying to tell good stories lol
Features are usually just named for whatever human stuff they are in or near, as for the time periods, they are often named for the location where rocks of that age were first identified (by Western science). Permian is named after an historical region in Russia called Perm. Cambrian is named for Cambria, a latinized form of the Welsh name for Wales. Ediacaran is named for the Ediacara hills in Australia. Devonian is named for Devon, England. Jurassic is named for the Jura mountains on the French/Swiss boarder
Did not know that, thanks for teaching me something new!
Howdy from Kentucky! I've been anticipating your Mammoth Cave video. You did not disappoint. You are a great teacher as you entertain while conveying interesting information. I know more now about Mammoth Cave than I ever have. Thank you for that. I hope you enjoyed our lovely state. Looking forward to Cave Wars.
Glad you liked it, thanks for watching! You have a beautiful state and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Cave Country. Mammoth Cave far exceeded my expectations and I was just captivated the entire time I was there. I'll definitely be back.
When I was like 3 years old in like 1970 a geologist was in a fissure in Mammoth Cave the ceiling collapsed and he was crushed. They cut his feet off and you could still see his leg bones. I am 55 I will never forget that.
Yup that doesnt sound fun, sorry you had to go through that
Maybe a little morbid but what did they do with the feet? It would have perhaps been a fitting tribute to put them under a dripping formation so crystals would have grown on the bone and turned ugly death into a beautiful mix of the eldritch and earthy. Sorry if that is too weird. It was one of those nights where you lay almost asleep wondering if John Wane Gacy really wrote a book series called Harlequin Bromances.
@@karlharvymarx2650 if I remember correctly they were put in a casket and buried.
Not a smart geologist....🤦
You're confused about at least one story, and possibly combining bits of multiple stories. My guess is that you're (mostly) thinking about Floyd Collins, who died in a small cave that's in the park (which didn't exist when he died) after his leg was pinned by a rock that fell on it in a tight crawlway. Sometime later his body was put on display, in a coffin with a glass lid, in Crystal cave, which he had discovered on the family farm. Still later, his body was stolen and then recovered near the Green River. IIRC, one of his legs was not found. I haven't watched the cave wars video, but that has to include some info about Floyd Collins, even if it doesn't mention the body being stolen.
Love the video! Very informative. Disappointing to see the comment section littered with religious fanatics who think the earth is only thousands of years old, but doesn’t detract from the video!
Keep up the great content and regular uploads and I can easily see this channel amassing a lot of subscribers
Thanks so much for your support! This community continues to grow and I'm so excited to see where it goes from here.
My first college major was geology! I still find it fascinating!
Definitely! I've covered a surprising amount of geology topics on this channel so far just because it's so interesting. It's also a chance for me to learn about topics I otherwise wouldn't!
Geology is “Earth and Spatial Sciences” now. 🤔
Fantastic video! I've been watching your channel since the early days and your presentation just keeps getting better and better. Congratulations on the explosion in subscribers and the Patreon account! This was really informative and inspires me to travel to Kentucky just to see this. I''l be looking forward to the Kentucky Cave Wars episode! ~ Mike
Thanks Mike, your support really means a lot. You've been here since the early days and it doesn't go unnoticed! Enjoy your travels to Kentucky - I recommend as many cave tours as your schedule allows!
Been to Mammoth Cave National Park and it's beautiful. Funny you mention the pocked mark landscape because the Nashville Dome is like that. The Nashville Dome is part of the Cincinnati Arch. It's the southern part of the Arch, and funny that it's called a dome. If you have ever been to Nashville you would know and can see there is no dome. The Cumberland River and its many tributaries over the millenia the dome has melted away the limestone leaving the Cumberland Valley. There is still limestone beneath Nashville and you can see the dome in the highland rim as it circles the city of Nashville.
Interesting, did not know that! Thanks for teaching me something new!
I wish that you would make more videos on caves inside NPs. Great video!
Thank you! There are certainly plenty of caves to talk about. This is my second and I'll be producing a video on the Kentucky Cave Wars as well. Lots to see, but I'm sure this won't be the last time I talk about caves!
Your video brought back happy memories. Years ago my husband and I before we retired, visited Mammoth Cave. We spent the day there and had a wonderful time.
So glad to hear that! I had a great time on my trip to Mammoth Cave last month also. Such a great park!
Oh wow- so happy to find your channel!!
Welcome, thanks for being here!
I like your channel a lot. I feel like these are good quality videos and research put into them.
Carlsbad cavern could be a fun future video. I havent been to Carlsbad since i was a teenager.
Thanks so much for being here! I'm sure Carlsbad Caverns will make an appearance at some point in the future!
this is some really interesting stuff, thanks for putting it together!
Thank you for watching it!
I just visited Maquoketa Caves State Park in Iowa and got a kick out of spotting a lot of stock footage from there used in your video! >;D
If you're in the midwest I'd highly recommend, it's a pretty compact and dense park and I found out I loved climbing and squeezing down into underground creek beds as well as the tourist grade guided pathways!
(Remember to pack decent kneepads and an old bike helmet!)
Haha, yes, good spot! That footage worked really well for the feeling I was going for in the video. Looked cool though, might have to check it out if I'm ever in the area.
Same! Did a trip with the Scouts last month, first time I'd ever been!
Better information than we got from the tour guide there 😂 keep it up!
Haha, thank you and will do!
Nice presentation. Couple of notes. You have the cart before the horse in describing the gradient of the limestone layers. That's not a result of the Green River cutting down into its bed, but of ancient uplift of the plateau by tectonic forces, which long predate the Green River's formation. That gradient, called the "regional dip" is very slight, about one degree, inclined to the northwest, and it is the fact that the regional dip is so mild that gives Mammoth Cave its incredible connectivity, and hence, length. The dip is not perfectly uniform: there are minor variations here and there in slope and direction, and those local variances mean that the passages don't all flow in the direction of the regional dip, but meander sideways to the regional dip as well, where they may chance to intersect with other passages.
You should do a video about Stephen Bishop who was a slave that worked as a cave guide and was the first person to map the cave
He will make an appearance in my Cave Wars video!
I live 173 miles from mammoth cave I mainly go there for fishing 🎣 I didn't know how larg the cave system was until now so now I gotta go caving
I highly recommend it! I had a great time there last month. I recommend doing as many different cave tours as possible!
Went to Mammoth cave as a 13yr.old. a must see for those who love caves.
Agreed!
Living in Louisville, I think I've been on every tour they have available. We had field trip after field trip to Mammoth Cave. The one I remember the most was the one with the boat ride. You can see the fish in the River that evolved in complete darkness and because of that, they have no eyes. It was just amazing.
I think they've actually discontinued the boat tour. But I'm agreed on the diversity of tours they offer! One of my regrets from my first visit is that I didn't do more than one tour!
Very well explained, great video.
Thanks for watching!
My family went on the extended historic tour this morning! Fantastic experience!
So cool! Next time I go back I'm going to do the Historic Tour and one of the lantern tours. Glad you enjoyed your trip!
Great video. Spent my summers during college spelunking around the edges of Mammoth. Your video brought back some great memories and scary nightmares. :)
Glad I could help - thanks for watching!
Tell me your nightmares.....😈
Stoked to hear about the Kentucky cave wars!
Working on it now!
Mammoth cave has to be one of my top three national parks
Personally, I prefer Carlsbad Caverns to Mammoth cave. The active caves there are just amazing.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. It was one of those parks where understanding how it got that way greatly increased my appreciation for it.
That Cave leads you towards a place you could only imagine…
The Upside Down?
@@NationalParkDiaries the hollow earth , animals went through there to go through the hollow earth , there’s videos of living mammoths you wouldn’t imagine , search up admiral Byrd
@@NationalParkDiaries where you are at is one of 8+ entries to the hollow earth
The hollow world, the Agharta land of advanced races,the lost land whatever you want to call it I've been studying it for about 2 months now I actually ran into some mind blowing information that's how I end up watching this video because one of the entrances are located in that cave well there's two ways actually. I have been buying old original Maps and I came across a map that's very interesting can't really say much but I'll leave you wit this Admiral Byrd found out the truths to this world 😉
Yes brother
Love this channel yo
Thanks for being here!
It was a spiritual experience for me. Loved the mommoth caves.
Same for me, really cool experience. Glad you enjoyed it!
The Kentucky mammoth cave is also an entrance into inner earths Agartha network. Admiral Byrd wrote about going to inner earth Via the north pole and there are maps showing Kentucky mammoth cave as being one of the entrances
Yes but it's currently off limits as the world is in negotiations with the bigfoot, yeti, and Santa Clause
Bingo
400 miles to center of gravity another 400 to well you know. It really exists and when they did a probe they found a huge land mass and a ocean hitting the shore line. That being said admiral byrd who went to Anartica wrote about it.. look at china they found a whole eco system in a cave. It exist can't tell you how I know but yes it's there and it is mind blowing. Clouds and oceans and mountains and well go and fund out.
I went there back when I was a kid with my grandparents. I really want to go back sometime, and see a lot more.
I hope you make it! It's a great park and well worth the visit!
This is so totally cool. Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Had a chance to visit the caves on my road trip home from Texas but the tickets were sold out for the day. We did a small hike and I took a couple neat pictures of the place @12:59
Glad you at least got the chance to visit! Tickets are especially hard to come by during peak months. But, hopefully you can see the cave some day!
@@NationalParkDiaries yeah I really hope to one day
You put the idea of popping some acid and going cave exploring, how dare you!
I’m doing it.
That does not sound wise. Make sure you have a sitter or that the cave is a popular spot or you could end up dead. Finding your way around is hard enough on acid, I don’t even want to think about struggling with that in a dark cave
Yeah maybe leave this idea for the drawing board. Doesn’t sound safe or like a fun time when you inevitably get lost lol
You may what could’ve been a boring science lecture and do something that was not only interesting but fun to listen to. I have been to Carlsbad caverns, next video? Now I want to go and visit Mammoth Cave.
Thanks Joe, glad you enjoyed it! I'm sure I'll do something on Carlsbad Caverns at some point - these cave videos seem to capture my imagination lol. But yes, I highly recommend Mammoth Cave - it far exceeded my expectations!
@@NationalParkDiaries We are going to have to plan a western parks visit.
I live about 2 hours from Mammoth cave. While not as big caver, I love the park, the cave . Its all so cool and the geology,, limestone, karst...natural filtration. Ah, I just get all geeky
It's a very cool park, I agree!
I recall visiting Mammoth Cave when a child with my family.
It's an incredible place!
Grew up and went to college nearby. Been there many times. Great video.
Thanks for watching!
Great story thanks for making it!
Thank you for watching it!
I used to enjoy making mazes as a young kid. I wonder if that was some dna-thing from ancestors long ago, societies of people living in, or at least, using caves. Interesting stuff.
The backrooms footage for a cave and and the over 420 mark had me confused if this is a joke or not😂
Just went to Mammoth Cave for the first time two weeks ago . The tour guide was telling us that Native americas would explore the caves , and would chip off gypsum from the walls. I wonder what they used that for?
I wonder as well. I haven't come across anything in my research yet either.
Fertilizer, perhaps? Especially if mixed with guano.
They didn't leave a memoir, but using epsomite as a laxative seems like one very likely use. Salts Cave, where most of the aboriginal mining took place, gets it's name because epsomite and other minerals mined there are types of salt. It therefore seems likely that they may have been used as a form of seasoning salt.
Great video! I haven't been to Mammoth cave since I was a kid, and now that I'm about to turn 30 I'm itching to go. Luckily it's only about 3 1/2 hours from me!
Thanks! Yeah, I highly recommend it! I went last month and had blast. It's just really cool knowing you're walking around in the world's largest cave lol
@@NationalParkDiaries Any suggested trails? I really want to do some caving/spelunking, but I'm not sure if they offer it at the National Park. Thanks for the reply!
@@kyleburnett1618 Yes! All entry to the cave is through guided NPS tours. I did the Grand Avenue tour, which is the longest and I really enjoyed it. I would also recommend doing multiple tours if you can. I really wanted to do the Historic Tour and one of the lantern tours, but didn't book them in time. They sell out quick, so plan ahead! If you're looking to do some hiking above the surface, the park has a bunch of backcountry trails on the North side of the Green River, but I found the trails near the visitor center to be quite nice. I'd definitely recommend going to see the two springs - Echo River and River Styx - where the underground rivers meet the surface. Super cool to see after you know where all that water has come from. Best of luck in your travels!
@@NationalParkDiaries Thank you so much!
@@kyleburnett1618 No problem!
Went with my fiancé and we had so much fun. Such a beautiful and interesting place.
It's a wonderful park! I was there in June and had a great time!
I love your videos, but the caves one are my personal favorite.
Last year I did 4 cave tours in Texas with my girlfriend. We went to Long Horn cavern state park, natural bridge caverns, the inner space cavern, and wonder world cave.
Long Horn cavern had some beautiful and impressive tunnels carved out by the ancient underground rivers, and there even is a naturally carved stone the size and shaped of a dog, and some interesting history with the natives.
Natural Bridge caverns has some impressive limestone formations that you have to go somewhere like Carlsbad to see even large and more impressive formations.
Inner Space Cavern has some fascinating fossils found in the cave. During the ice age several sinkholes into the cavern were formed, and some animals fell into the holes and their bodies got preserved. Some of the fossils found include baby mammoth, saber tooth tiger, giant sloth, and Tetrameryx (ancient pronghorns).
Wonder world cave is supposedly the only commercially operated dry formed cave in the United States. The cave was formed from a ancient earthquake and on the cave tour you can see the fault itself very clearly visible in the cave's ceiling. The cave sits on top of Edwards aquifer and when the cave floods it drains into the aquifer. The cave also used to be home to a underground nightclub.
Luray Cavern in Virginia is a mini Carlsbad. It's absolutely stunning and not too many people seem to know about them.
Thank you! Yeah, the caves are very fascinating to me. There's just something mysterious and alluring about them. I'm sure there will be plenty more cave videos to come!
The vanishing river is cool.
I went to see both the River Styx Spring and the Echo River Spring when I was there and it was just so cool to see knowing where that water had been and the journey it had taken. Very cool area.
The Pennyroyal looks like a WW1 battlefield!😮
The man who mapped it was a free slave to the owner who owned the moutain... There a Family grave site of Him and family... He mapped the Mamouth cave by candle light.... Also invented black powder from bat guano.. Which Was sold to both sides of the civil war... An American unsung Hero...
I love this channel!
Thanks for being here!
I suddenly have an urge to go to Mammoth Cave National Park, disassemble a building, and take it off the lot.
It's important in ancient alignments around the world too.
Take the Wild Cave Tour. It will wear you out, but you will get a real view of what it's like.
They weren't offering it when I was there ☹
Caves are numerous in Kentucky!!!!!resident for years and found 6 when I lived there.
Definitely. They don't call it Cave Country for nothing!
There is a trail that leads to a place like no other.
...thanks for using both measuring systems ! ☺️
USA
Haha, you're welcome!
Geologic times are very interesting, I love the time tables and the different phases of the earth's crust. I'm just 4 hour's from Mammoth Caves & hopefully I'll be able to visit them soon. WV wild & wonderful 💚
Haha, yeah the scale of geologic time always blows my mind when I think about it...
But yes, highly recommend a visit to Mammoth Cave - well worth the visit!
@@NationalParkDiaries Ditto & it's on my list for this summer. TY
Mammoth caves , one of the entry point to inner earth 🌎
The lava tubes at Mt. Helens are cool too. Much smaller tho.
I've heard lots about them. Might need to make a video about it...
@@NationalParkDiaries It’s a good hike if you do the entire thing. Marble Mountain trail is really nice too. Some active vents and good skiing late into spring.
Amazing
Agreed!
Do they still have that Cafeteria down there, it did when I went years ago
Yes, it's still there. Not sure if it's in use though.
Great video
Thank you!
@@NationalParkDiaries thank YOU for the great video
Academia call ancient tunnel systems "caves" or "cave systems" so that we won't wonder where the tunnels lead. If they're caves, they have an end. If they're tunnels . . .
All ancient tunnels are either:
1) closed to the public (sometimes for the legitimate reason of safety, like KTK Tunnel in Visoko, Bosnia),
2) gated (like Stanton's "Cave," located alongside the Colorado River),
3) filled in (like the "cave" near Istria, Croatia; see video titled, "CONCRETE OF THE ANCIENTS: Exploring a Prehistoric Cavern in Istria, Croatia, April 9, 2017"), or
4) sectioned off inside (like Mammoth "Cave").
"People have died exploring Mammoth Caves..."
Sort of. The most famous death of an explorer in Mammoth Caves, that of (William) Floyd Collins, was likely caused by his discharge of DYNAMITE charges in the general area 4 days earlier.
Source is the floydcollins blog category background, which I can't directly link because then TH-cam removes my comments.
Wasn't the safest move on Collins' part...
i wish i lived in kentucky. id love to check this place out. it also sounds like kentucky is a giant sinkhole waiting to happen.
I'd highly recommend it! I had a wonderful time there and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the park.
@@NationalParkDiaries its on my bucket list now. kentucky isnt that far from massachusetts.
@@rm25088 good to hear! I think you'll really enjoy it. I recommend doing as many cave tours as you can!
Very cool.
Agreed!
One important note: most colas, including Coca-Cola us phosphoric acid, not just carbonic acid like most other sodas. It’s worse for your teeth than something like sprite or orange soda.
Yeah but even sodas like ginger ale, sprite, and others are stupid acidic as well. Coke is like 2.4, with the rest I mentioned being like 2.9-3.1. Super acidic and just not conducive for good oral health lol.
If you drink soda try to use a straw to bypass your teeth.
Dentin and enamel dissolve below 6.5 and 5.5 respectively, so take care of ya teeth
@@cwill2127 Agreed - all are bad. I was just correcting the chemistry that in coca cola it has actually more than just carbonic acid.
Thank you
Thanks for watching Joanna!
13:03 "cap"tivated
😂😂😂
The geological time scale your using of for United States there is actually a international time scale too!
Me n my buddy burned some green buds in Mammoth...the smoke lingered forever...lol..
I'm here for the kentucky cave wars
In progress!
These caves are longer than the entire length of Britain..
It's staggering really....
Well done history lesson
Thanks for watching!
I've been to Mammoth Cave before. The sections I went through were huge, but are there any parts of it that are as tight as the infamous Nutty Putty Cave in Utah?
I've never been to the Nutty Putty Cave, and have only done one tour in Mammoth, but I think, for the publicly accessible parts of the Cave at least, they're generally pretty open. There were a few slot canyons in the section I explored that were maybe 1.5 of me wide, but I never felt I had to "squeeze" or anything like that. I didn't explore this section, but I do know there is an area of the Cave called "Fat Man's Misery," which is supposed to be pretty tight.
Nutty Putty probably has spots that are tighter than the spot where the guy died. Mammoth definitely has spots that are too small to get through. Sometimes there's another route to the other side, and you could reach through and touch somebody if you were both there at the same time. Sometimes the passage may dead end beyond a spot you can't get through, and some things you can't get to eventually connect to another known section but coming from that side also takes you to a spot you can't fit through that's far enough from the other one that you don't know they're both part of the same passage. There could potentially be miles of cave that are between two spots that re too tight for explorers to get through, and will never be sen unless another way in is discovered.
Imagine running into a 9 foot tall sasquatch as you snoop through his cave system.
Terrifying.
when i was in high school i lived in crawfordsville, in and my science teacher claimed to be part of a team that discovered another section of mammoth cave.
Very cool. There seems to be a dedicated group of researchers and explorers there at Mammoth Cave. New passages are being discovered every year!
You could do a nice little cute flyover of the Natural Bridge State Park and the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky the real beautiful place with a lot of hiking opportunities in some wonderful places for you to take a drone pictures if they will allow you. Go there
The next episode should be the cave wars around mammoth cave area (1930 i think)
It will be!
i did the big tour when i was a kid AND IT WAS BAD AZZ there was a drop off that had no bottom and we walked up stairs over it. and there is a HUGE room they had lights in and it was so cool and there was a waterfall underground.
Very cool! I did the Grand Avenue Tour myself when I was there back in June. I really wish I did more, but now I just have an excuse to go back lol. Such a cool place!
@@NationalParkDiaries yea it truly is i went back when they had the free tour it was not as fun but still cool. wished i would of paid for the big one at the time but now i wont be able to go anymore.
4:34 Idk either but many state names come from native american words so I think it's cool
*video starts*
Me: Oh look! The back rooms!
Why do these periods have north american names? Because they were described there, just like the Devonian is named after Devon in England, where "good" rocks of that age were described.
Are people allowed to walk around and explore by themselves or are you forced into a tour group?
There is one self-guided tour, but it's pretty short (and you still need a ticket). Otherwise, yes, you have to take a tour.
"Potential for 1000 more kilometers"
The edge of space is at 80-100 km for perspective.
Everyone needs to go watch Internet Historian's latest video, Man In Cave, about Floyd Collings. It's horrifying, but it gives you a good impression as to the dangers of exploring the caves in Kentucky.
Its a big shame that the cattle lots in Woodburn kentucky is dumping dead cows and waste products into the cave system. Would be good for the EPA to check into it closer on walnut lane
You bring up a good point about Karst systems in general. Pollutants enter the groundwater very quickly and can then degrade the cave habitat. To my knowledge though, the park has been successful on several occasions with managing nearby agricultural pollutants.