MACA and BISO

Quick note... the National Park Service (NPS), refers to their parks by Alpha code. This is usually the first 4 letters of their name if it's one word.. e.g. Yosemite = YOSE; Acadia = ACAD. If it's two or more words, it's usually the first two letters of the first two words.. Joshua Tree = JOTR; Lake Mead = LAME... there's some fun ones though... GWMP = George Washington Memorial Parkway. I'll probably be referring to parks by their alpha... because I can...

One more thing... if you ever want to go to a park's website just put in www.nps.gov and then "/" plus their alpha code. So Mammoth Cave is www.nps.gov/maca.


Just finished up Mammoth Cave today... took forever. We can't work when the roads are wet and it loves to rain in central Kentucky in the Spring. On the bright side of it, the rain allowed me to take some tours of the cave. Longest cave system in the world and the second NPS owned cave I've been to, Wind Cave in SD being the other. Pics in caves are lame though, that's the best one I could find.





The most interesting fact I remember from the tours is that Mammoth Cave started as a tourist attraction in 1812. It wasn't apart of the National Park System until the 1930s. So it's not exactly in the same condition as it was back then, but I guess what is the same?
Above ground MACA, is actually really beautiful. The park is filled with deer and turkeys... lots of turkeys. Big trees over the road, nice roads (most of them), and ferries. Yeah there's 2 ferries in the park. Ship ya back and forth across the Green River (created the cave a couple of years ago and pictured above). Got to ride it a bunch(first trip below), kinda fun... operators were... interesting.

Once we finished up we drove onto BISO (Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area). Located about 60 to 100 miles NW of Knoxville TN on the South Fork of the Cumberland River.
Collected around a campground and I got told by 2 park employees to "not run over any kids." Thanks for the advice, I'll hold onto that one.

BISO is located in Appalachia... needless to say I'm not staying at a Hilton tonight. I paid $13 for a meal that would have cost $25 elsewhere. Preston's Steakhouse I guess is the best place in town, because it turned out to be the Prom dinner locale. Wish I could've taken my prom date to Preston's... could've saved some loot.

Alright finishing up BISO tomorrow and onto CUGA (Cumberland Gap National Historical Park).