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Deceptive billboards trying to steer tourists away from the actual Mammoth Cave National Park have continued up until recent times. I'm not saying there aren't other caves worth exploring, but when there's a giant "Welcome to Mammoth Cave" billboard with an arrow pointing to an exit that only leads to an independent gift shop, well...
Driving through KY on a roadtrip two years ago saw all the signs so decided to stop. We’d never heard of the caves.

I’m retrospect I wish we’d known and booked the longer tours, which all sell out early in the day.

I thought the kids would want 5 mins of walking around and then be bored, but they loved it all, and it prompted us to go to more caves on a different trip to WI.

There was even older conflict in Mammoth Caves too. Earlier fighting over control of the caves to extract saltpeter for gun powder, then a story about a businessman who imported mushrooms from France to grow in the caves, but was stymied by a rival who poured oil over them.

The whole area was beautiful and well worth the stop.

I'm originally from that area and remember being absolutely captivated by the caves when I was younger. My father had a friend that was a spelunker that helped build walkway bridges in these systems before they opened. That was the first real example that I remember of knowing someone that had a cool job, that wasn't just construction, and was a concrete example that you really might be able to do jobs that you wanted to do.
There's something beautifully ironic about "not construction" --> "concrete example"
It seems like many caves have a rich history of exploitation and shenanigans. I heard similar stories about other larger cave systems that I’ve been able to visit.
There are caves in WI?
Quite a few, actually. Not as spectacular as Mammoth, of course. Cave of the Mounds and Crystal Cave are both popular tours, but there are caves dotted all over the state (including access via the lake up on the north shore).

Edit: link to the Wisconsin Speleological Society: https://www.wisconsincaves.org/home

If you’re ever in the southern Indiana or northern Kentucky area, check out the Indiana Cave Trail [0]. There are 4+ caves that are relatively close by. One of them even has an underground lake where you take a boat with the guide. Free tshirt if you visit all 4 caves.

https://squireboonecaverns.com/local-attractions/indiana-cav...

If you're interested in more Kentucky cave stuff, Internet Historian on YouTube made this great video about a man getting stuck in the cave he was trying to develop for tourism. https://youtu.be/nnI_oZKxzl0
Yeah, this is great. The presentation initially appears scrappy and low-budget but it's highly expressive and the content is extremely well presented and researched.

Warning though, it's no coincidence that this was initially released around Halloween.

It's so well done, but I could never remember the details when it came up in conversation. Thanks for the link!
This story is in the article as well.
Fun to see my state on hacker news for something positive.

Kentucky has what's called karst topography. Meaning that our bedrock is predominantly calcite rocks like limestone. These rocks are worn away by anything slightly acidic, including rain.

Groundwater, which we have plenty of, makes for lots of sinkholes and caves. Also gives us some really hard water and hay that is high in mineral content. That hay is why Lexington is the horse capital of the world (self proclaimed).

Went on a Scout trip to Mammoth Cave in the 90's. What an amazing experience. We did a late night 2 hour+ hike through one of the cave systems. True spelunking!
I like to call digging through legacy code, "code spelunking." Lots of hidden sinkholes and other invisible dangers there, too!
Kentucky was the first topographically mapped state in the Nation and the only one I think to be completely geologically mapped in detail. I think that's pretty cool.
"A hollow voice says 'Plugh.'"

The cave wars gave us a classic computer game as well. More than one of Colossal Cave's features were directly lifted from Mammoth.

Just came back from a short trip to Kentucky. The area we were had tons of billboards advertising caves. Really jumped out at me at the time.
Tourism gets a bad rep but it's one of the few things that gets money into poor areas. What would the Algarve or Florida look like without pensionados from the North?
I'm from kentucky, and I agree with your assessment. The town I grew up in has ~80% of it's gross income come from welfare. It's rural as rural can be. Tucked into the mountains, dial up internet still the norm. At one point we were ranked 26th in poorest counties in the country (next door Owsley county was second poorest).

It's a beautiful area, unspoiled, old forests lots of water, caves, just beautiful. The county over went wet (meaning they can sell alcohol) and turned themselves into a hippy tourist destination. Rock climbing, craft beer, caving, kayaking, zip lines, the whole nine yards. Over the last decade they went from 3 restaurants to supporting dozens. The place has really prospered.

My home town has a median household income of 16k/yr, vs the tourist destination at 44k/yr.

My hometown is still dry, not a tourist destination, and is exactly the same as it was when I left it.

Sad that your town keeps electing the same leadership with no long term vision on how to improved the community. Sad to see towns stuck in their ways to move forward
What is the name of the hippy tourist county?
The area OP is talking about is referred to as the Red River Gorge, it spans a handful counties (powell, wolfe, menifee, and lee county) which are in various states of development.

Definitely an interesting place to travel around. You can go drive 20 minutes and go from fairly developed tourist-ville with gift shops and well kept cabins galore to rough oil/logging roads with people living in rundown buildings in extreme poverty.

Lots of incredible natural resources that have been poorly protected compared to a lot of wild areas out west. Unfortunately it doesn't look like things are getting any better in that regard.

Red River Gorge is a gem for the rock climbing community. I frequented the area a few years back, there's plenty of places to dirtbag around outside of the tourist cabins. Hoping the continued development stays positive.
Rock climbing is what really started this whole thing honestly. I remember my grandmother complaining about all the "devil worshipping rock climbers" at the Gorge when I was growing up.

Funny how moving to a less homogeneous place gives you a lot different perspective on different people.

Slade is the city, Powell is the county
tourism does bring a share of modern problems -- money does not fix everything. Also, the name "hippy" is a word from the outside media.. its not respectful and is often a slur. Maybe those "hippy" people deserve some kind of respect after all ?

source: real people

When your median household income is 16k a year, money fixes a heck of a lot of problems.
Flotida would still be a major producer of lumber, seafood, citrus, cattle, and Winter vegetables.
Also mining - Florida has a majority of the phosphate mining operations of the USA.
Tangentially related to the game Kentucky Route Zero?
Those Cave Wars. They were Dark Days. District 12, the odds are NEVER in our favor!