Caves and Bourbon – May 17 – Ken

If someone asked you to name a cave, what would be the first cave that comes to mind? Likely, it would be Mammoth Cave – perhaps the most famous cave system in the world.

Our three cave tours in Arizona left us wanting more.

Coming out of Nashville with our ears filled with country music, we plotted a course for Kentucky. A relatively short drive put us at Jellystone Park just outside of Cave City, the closest town to Mammoth Caves.

And, yes, we went back underground.

Mammoth Caves

While both Carlsbad Caverns and Mammoth Caves are in National Parks, the visitor centres for the caves couldn’t be more different. The Carlsbad visitor’s centre had both a history of the cave and a large display of the cave layout. Mammoth had only a small visitor centre with a much smaller display about the caves.

I found that surprising as Mammoth Caves are closer to the larger population centres of the eastern seaboard. But, hey, what do I know?

Unfortunately, I think we also got the better show in Arizona.

While the Mammoth Cave experience was good, and the tour Ranger gave quite a bit of history about the cave, the cave its self is a bit of a disappointment.

Where Carlsbad Caverns are “wet” caves, Mammoth Caves are “dry” caverns. By that, I mean that Carslbad has active water in the caverns while there is almost no water in most of the Mammoth cave system.

There are some massive caverns at Mammoth, but the geology isn’t as interesting. Things like flow-stone, cave bacon, stalactites and stalagmites are just not there, because they never had the opportunity to form.

But, what is there is a history.

Mammoth Caves have been used for thousands of years by Native Americans. With the coming of the settlers, the caves have been commercially exploited since at least the early 1800’s. And, the caves show that.

The first stop underground is at some leaching pits. While there are no commercial gems in the caves, the dirt on the floor of the caves was found to be high in the salts that, when processed, would lead to creation of saltpeter, used for gun powder.

The leaching pits were set up so that dry cave dirt was shoveled into the pits, water was run through the soils and collected, then the wet soil was shoveled out. This was, of course, back breaking work and done in almost complete darkness.

Unfortunately, no free person would do this so slave labour was used.

Once there was no more need for the saltpeter, the equipment was left and the spoil piles left to harden in place.

Then came the tourists. And, they left their mark – all over the cave.

Oils from hands all over the rocks, names scratched into the walls, and names and dates written in candle soot on the roof of the cave.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the cave tour was where we hit the very bottom of the tour we were on. You have to go through an area called “Fat Man’s Misery” which is a very short, narrow keyhole shaped passage.

We had no problems with feeling claustrophobic in the passage, but I have to admit I did hit my head more than once!

Bourbon

When in Kentucky, one must try bourbon; so, we decided it was worth our time.

About an hour from Mammoth Caves is one of the major bourbon producing areas, Bardstown. In fact, they have a whole tourist industry set-up around bourbon. It is called the Bourbon Trail and there are about 18 different distilleries you can visit.

We are not really hard liquor drinkers (more beer and wine drinkers if anything), so we decided that one distillery would probably be enough. We chose to visit the Heaven Hills Distillery as it appeared to offer the best visiting experience.

The day dawned wet and cool and didn’t get too much better as we drove to Bardstown. Arriving at the distillery, we booked a tasting then went for a quick meal. Upon arriving back at the distillery, the rain got heavier and the clouds darker. Once we were inside, the lobby was full of people.

Apparently, while we were grabbing our food, the area had come under a tornado warning so they brought everyone from every tour to the lobby to wait it out.

At one point we were escorted deeper into the facility to be further away from doors and windows. Staff brought around two samples of bourbon for everyone to try while we waited. After all entertained people are calm people. One was a premium variety that was no longer available for purchase.

The result was a bit of chaos as everyone waited out the storm then tried to get back to whatever it was they were doing before the warning.

We had a very good conversation with a couple who had settled in Arkansas after moving over several states with engineering firms. Phyllis overheard a couple of fellows talking about St. John’s and Terrebonne. They were too familiar with the geography of NFLD to be anything but Canadians.  They seemed to be part of a corporate event.

This was the second tornado watch we have had on this trip. The first was just into Georgia on a day trip form Hilton Head. It wasn’t taken very seriously because the incidence is so rare in that part of the country. In Kentucky, they mean business when a watch is declared. They had a plan of action and weren’t going to take any guff over it. The whole crowd were cooperative. Some folks were especially concerned and hid out in the washrooms for the duration.

Our tasting started about thirty to forty minutes late. I don’t know how many people were originally scheduled to join that tour, but it turned out there were only 4 for our tasting, and, due to the chaos, the other pair missed most of the presentation.

So, our new friend Al, gave us a real lesson in bourbon including the history of both bourbon and the distillery, the types of grains used to make whiskey and bourbon (to be called bourbon the mixture must have 51% or more corn and be aged in new oak barrels), a sample of their five main grain mixes and how to taste bourbon and whiskey with and without water.

Phyllis’s preference was neat, while I preferred mine with a few drops of water to open up the volatile organics.

However, either way, I don’t think Al converted us to bourbon drinkers!

Back to Canada

We are on our way back to Canada. Today was six hours of driving – which is about as much as we ever want to do in a day.

After the first two hours on the Interstate system, we were approaching Indianapolis so we switched to back highways and enjoyed a nice drive through the countryside. After the hills and forests of the Carolinas, Tennessee and Kentucky, Indiana was abruptly and amazingly flat.

Tomorrow we will camp in northern Michigan and cross the border on Friday. Then, you can reach us on our regular phone lines!