Mammoth Cave main entrance

The second tour was much more difficult than the first. There were many stairs, although I still really enjoyed the tour. One of the first things you come across in the tour is a monument to U.S. soldiers. I have had some students ask if there were any minerals mined in the cave. Yes, saltpetre, was mined for the War of 1812. There were some foreign tourist on this tour from Vietnam. During the tour, they kept touching the stalactites and columns, which you should never do because it takes hundreds of thousands of years for them to grow, and touching them can damage them or prevent them from growing anymore. I told them to not touch. They said they wanted to make sure they were real. I mentioned that they would not like tourist coming to their country and touching their national treasures to see if they were real.