I love caves! I have visited several in many locations across the nation. Perhaps my fascination began in a cave that isn’t really a cave. It is a deep horizontal hole in the side of Alabama’s Sand Mountain, located between Blake and Fort Payne. It was simply known as The Hole in the Rock. We called it a cave, but the Alabama cave experts said it did not meet the requirements to actually be one. That’s what the experts said about me being a great musician and songwriter, too! Well, technically, in Alabama, a cave must be 50 feet long or 50 feet deep in order to be recognized as a cave. Regardless, it was a fun place to visit as a kid, and admission was free. The only way to enter the hole was to climb a handmade wooden ladder that stayed there or to repel down from the top. We didn’t realize it at the time, but since The Hole in the Rock is located on private property, we were actually trespassing. The mountain-gap dirt road that passed by the cave, excuse me, the hole, has now been closed, the property has been posted, and no trespassing is allowed. Over the years, The Hole was home to partiers, boozers, robbers, prayer meetings, and, according to rumors, one large Billy goat. I attended a prayer meeting there a few times. I never saw any goats. Honestly, I believe that goat may have been seen by some of those partiers!
A couple of weeks ago, Jean and I visited the world’s largest hole in a rock. I’ve seen some nice ones through the years. In my youth, we went spelunking in an undeveloped cave in Pine Ridge, Alabama. I also toured Manitou Cave in Fort Payne and Sequoyah Caverns in Valley Head. Both of those are now closed to the public. Jean’s mother grew up by Sequoyah and, as a child, played inside it before it was open to the public. I’ve ridden a boat on the largest underground lake at The Lost Sea in Tennessee. They should change the name because we, and many others, have now found it! I’ve seen a 1,120-foot-high underground waterfall in Tennessee. Ruby Falls is the tallest underground waterfall, open to the public, in the United States. I’ve seen the largest room inside any cave in North America at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. The Grand Room is almost 4,000 feet long, 625 feet wide, and 255 feet high. It looked more like a stone canyon than a cave.
Last week, we visited what is arguably the largest cave in the world. Mammoth Cave in Central Kentucky has been designated as the largest cave in the world by length. Its length is listed as 405 miles, but it is estimated to have another 600 miles of unexplored depths! Obviously, we only hiked a small portion of the cave, but if you go, bring your walking-hiking-climbing shoes. There are numerous tours you can take through the cave’s system, but probably not all on the same day. We chose a two-hour-long tour called Domes and Dripstones. We climbed up and down 650 stairsteps, plus straight ways, which took us two hours. According to Jean’s pedometer, we made over 5000 steps! We did not need to go to the gym that day to work out! We saw a waterfall there, too, but it was frozen. Actually, it is a giant rock formation called Frozen Niagara.
Once again, I have been amazed by the wondrous creations of God. I walked out of Mammoth Cave, humming the song “This is My Father’s World.”
Bill King, a Rainsville native, is a columnist in the Mountain Valley News and North Jackson Press newspapers. He is a writer, musician, and author. King can be reached at [email protected].
