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Above and Below:
Nothing on this forested hillside suggests that the world's longest cave is beneath your feet. Yet life above and below ground and rightly intertwined. Water and air flow in and out of the cave. Animals and insects enter and leave the underworld through numerous cracks and openings.
Look for the tall, straight tulip poplars on the hillside. Workers for Mammoth Cave's 1812 saltpeter operation made wooden pipelines from these stately trees.
Humans first entered the innermost parts of the cave 4,000 years ago. Even the hardiest early explorers discovered that they could negotiate the cave's inky labyrinth only by introducing elements from the above-ground world -- in their case, light from cane torches. |