Mammoth Cave

[IA4PATS]

My wife and I are going to Cumberland Gap and Mammoth Cave areas over Thanksgiving. I am excited to get my first real play time with my new camera. My question is does anybody have any tips or tricks to shooting in caves? Haven't tried to shoot in caves yet and I am not sure what kind of learning curve there might be.

[dockothebay]

Shoot! I just saw this! We did Carlsbad Caverns a couple of years ago, great opportunities - don't be afraid to carry a tripod! That is a must! Since you are already there - and maybe back home again - wanta share?

[IA4PATS]

No problem Jackie. They don't allow tripods on the tour we were on. So, I compensated by taking lots of pictures. I did notice that with the lighting changing everywhere you look, that I had to constantly mess with the WB. On a side note, there was a couple that insisted on using flash with their DSLR. Let me tell you that if you are in an enviroment that is nearly dark, both people using a triple flash gets really annoying. I will sort through the pictures and post them soon.

[IA4PATS]

Here are some pictures from our trip to Kentucky.

We started out with a pretty tough hike that gained over 2000 feet in altitude in the first 2 miles. They had a bunch of rain the night before which gave us some nice water flowing and some early morning fog.

[IA4PATS]

At the top of the mountain, we saw a little of the Hensley settlement. There were supposed to be a lot of buildings, but the fog was so thick we couldn't find them all.

The next morning we went up to the Pinnacle overlook. Looking down you can see the historic Cumberland Gap.

[IA4PATS]

We then hiked through the gap.

We drove over to another part of the park. Sat in the van and had our Thanksgiving peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then hiked for a while.

The sun setting over the mountains makes for a nice backdrop, but Iowa sunsets are still my favorite. I guess I have seen some nice ones in that state to the north

[IA4PATS]

Friday was the day at the cave.

Calcium deposits growing from the sides of the cave.

A ranger giving a talk in the cave

There is even a picnic area with a snack bar in the cave.

It's easy to see why they call it Mammoth cave. We walked 4 miles in 4 hours and there is over 350 miles of "Mapped" parts of the cave.

[IA4PATS]

Parts of what is called Frozen Niagra.

Some kind fungus on the trees outside the cave.

On the way home, we stopped at the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. Didn't realize he was born in Kentucky. Even though Illinois calls itself "The land of Lincoln," he didn't move there until he was 21.

It was an awesome vacation and great way to spend our Thanksgiving.

[dockothebay]

Lovely, lovely, lovely images! Lookslike another destination for my list...

Thanks for sharing!!