Wanda confidently striding along on the Green River Bluff Trail.

Mammoth Cave National Park is vast. It includes miles of scenic tree-canopied roads and backcountry trails. It features the fast running Green River, countless springs, deep sink holes, long hollows, and that magnificent forest.

It is the forest that I love. Tall fat giant trees populate the bottomlands. Their crowns explode into widespread canopies like bursts of aerial fireworks filling the sky with floral displays.

Today was devoted to hiking. We started on the River Styx Trail, which followed a hidden underground river until it found an outlet at a cave mouth. From there, the jade-green river joined up with the pea-soup-green Green River.

The River Styx River Trail joined up with the Green River Bluff Trail, which intersected with the Dixon Cave Trail making a 2-mile loop, that we claim 6-miles due to the near-vertical climbs.

To reach the River Styx Trailhead, we had to first walk down a long gravel road as it descended into a narrow hollow.

At this point, the hollow walls revealed an interesting cross section of the rock layers in the first few feet underground. I believe that the angled slabs of rock are sandstone. The greenish boulders underneath are limestone.

We also had to go past Mammoth Cave’s “historic entrance”. There are several entrances to Mammoth Cave, however, this is the original entrance used to access the cave.

Boardwalk leading to the Styx River Spring.

Styx River Spring. The river transitions from underground to above ground.

The River Styx, now above-ground, flows toward Green River.

The Green River, while not huge, used to support riverboat traffic.

A woodpecker’s Morse code.

The forest along the River Bluff Trail was filled with giant trees with stout trunks and magnificent canopies.

Trunk.

Canopy.

Dixon Cave used to connect with Mammoth Cave. A cave-in disconnected the two caves.

The collapse that separated the shaft formed the present day “historic entrance”.

My favorite - woody vines.

Next, we drove to the Green River Ferry. Back in the Model T days, the Green River had many car ferries. One remains and it is in the heart of the park. Before taking the ferry across the river, we parked at the Echo River Spring trailhead. Like the River Styx, Echo River magically bursts out of the ground and flows into the Green River.

Echo River Springs Trail led to the River Valley Trail, to Sinkhole Trail, to White’s Cave Trail, and finally back to Echo River Springs Trail. This is another 2 miles horizontally, but 6 miles if you add in our vertical steps. And we do add them in.

Boardwalk to Echo Spring. We love boardwalks.

Echo Spring.

The Echo Spring entrance has been explored by scuba divers. They found some odd animals living in the dark underground waters. Pigment and eyes seem to have been discarded.

This drawing shows how two underground rivers bubble up next to each other and then merge into one above ground river which flows to the Green River.

The above ground portion of Echo River flowing toward the Green River.

The Green River swallows up Echo River.

The trails were rugged.

White’s Cave.

Two trees embrace in a passionate ballet.

The Green River Ferry is an odd contraption. The river is insanely swift, so several guide wires keep the boat from being swept down the river. Even so, the boat can get twisted around in the current. To provide propulsion, and to keep the boat from twisting, the boat uses one large old-fashioned paddle wheel on the down-river side. It is ingenious.

The view out the driver’s side window as we ride the ferry.

I love this great old photo of the original ferry.

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving the narrow curvy backcountry roads. We made a big circle that ultimately took us out of the park and through the neighboring countryside and villages.

Kentucky has a boatload of tiny Baptist countryside churches. Unlike the Ozarks, also populated with a plethora of churches, Kentucky’s churches have simple names, like Missionary Baptist Church. The Ozark’s Churches have longer and more colorful names, like Abundant Life Compassionate Baptist Ministry Church.

Again it was dark when we returned to V-Jer. Another amazing day on the road.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum.

Dave and Wanda

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