Journey to the Bottomless Pit

Journey to the Bottomless Pit
Author: Elizabeth Mitchell
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 86
Release: 2019-03-19
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1504057694

“A fascinating story.” —LeVar Burton The thrilling adventures of a slave who became known worldwide for his explorations of Mammoth Cave. If you toured Mammoth Cave in Kentucky in the year 1838, you would have been led by candlelight through dark, winding tunnels to the edge of a terrifying bottomless pit. Your guide would have been seventeen-year-old Stephen Bishop, an African American slave who became known around the world for his knowledge of Mammoth Cave. Bishop needed bravery, intelligence, and curiosity to explore the vast cavern. Using only a lantern, rope, and other basic caving equipment, he found a way to cross the bottomless pit and discover many more miles of incredible grottoes and tunnels. For the rest of his life he guided visitors through the cave, showing them how to stoop, bend, and crawl through passageways that were sometimes far from the traditional tour route. Based on the narratives of those who toured the cave with him, Journey to the Bottomless Pit is the first book for young readers ever written about Stephen Bishop. New to this edition: A free teacher’s guide to this book, as well as an interview with current-day Mammoth Cave guide Jerry Bransford, great-great-grandson of Stephen Bishop’s fellow guide, Mat Bransford.

Scary Stories of Mammoth Cave

Scary Stories of Mammoth Cave
Author: Colleen O'Connor Olson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2002
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780939748549

As you enter the world's longest cave you cannot help but wonder about scary stories. Two centuries of tourists and explorers--some of whom got lost, saw or heard the unexplainable, or just wanted to tell a good tale--cannot leave a cave without stories. Scary Stories of Mammoth Cave is a collection of nineteenth and twentieth century fiction, historical and more recent first hand accounts of unusual experiences by National Park Service employees, cave explorers, and scientists.

A Year in the National Parks

A Year in the National Parks
Author: Stefanie Payne
Publisher:
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2018-05
Genre:
ISBN: 9780692926789

On January 1 of 2016, Stefanie Payne, a creative professional working at NASA Headquarters, and Jonathan Irish, a photographer with National Geographic, left their lives in Washington, D.C. and hit the open road on an expedition to explore and document all 59 of America's national parks during the centennial celebration of the U.S. National Park Service - 59 parks in 52 weeks - the Greatest American Road Trip. Captured in more than 300,000 digital photographs, written stories, and videos shared by the national and international media, their project resulted in an incredible view of America's National Park System seen in its 100th year. 'A Year in the National Parks, The Greatest American Road Trip' is a gorgeous visual journey through our cherished public lands, detailing a rich tapestry of what makes each park special, as seen along an epic journey to visit them all within one special celebratory year.

Wildflowers of Mammoth Cave National Park

Wildflowers of Mammoth Cave National Park
Author: Randy Seymour
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2014-11-04
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0813160502

Not only for use in the Mammoth Cave area, this guide is widely useful in a large area, including much of the states of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia. An in-depth field guide to 400 wildflowers found along the trails and roads within the park. Each wildflower is represented by a brilliant full-color photograph and accompanied by identifying characteristic text that specifies the colors, floral and leaf forms, flowering time, native or introduced status, as well as the plant's folklore and history, its past herbal or medicinal use, and myriad other facts and myths. For those enthusiasts eager to search for new discoveries, the appendix provide tables showing the observed flowering period, a flower hunting planning guide, and an index of flowers by trail. A lasting and memorable introduction to the park's wildflowers—nearly all of which extend throughout Kentucky and neighboring states—Wildflowers of Mammoth Cave National Park is an indispensable tool for the amateur enthusiast and the professional botanist alike.

Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Cave
Author: David Rains Wallace
Publisher: Government Printing Office
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2003
Genre: History
ISBN:

The Kentucky Cave Wars

The Kentucky Cave Wars
Author: David Kem
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2014-06-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781312175846

Eighty-two square miles of rolling hills and valleys in south-central Kentucky make up Mammoth Cave National Park, one of four National Park units in the Commonwealth. Our 26th National Park is home to an enormous labyrinth of underground passages. In fact, Mammoth Cave today is understood to be the world's longest known cave system. Over 400 miles of passages have already been discovered, yet Mammoth Cave is not the only cavern in southern Kentucky. More than 300 other cave systems are known to exist within park boundaries, with many more beyond the reach of the national park. The discovery and exploitation of many of these created opportunity and prosperity for many who would seek to compete with the world famous Mammoth Cave. Roughly one hundred years of competition between enterprising cave managers, guides, locals, outsiders, explorers, and those loyal to one cave or another defined an era known as the Kentucky Cave Wars.

Epic Hikes of the World

Epic Hikes of the World
Author: Lonely Planet
Publisher: Lonely Planet
Total Pages: 758
Release: 2018-08-01
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1787019721

With stories of 50 incredible hiking routes in 30 countries, from New Zealand to Peru, plus a further 150 suggestions, Lonely Planet’s Epic Hikes of the World will inspire a lifetime of adventure on foot. From one-day jaunts and urban trails to month-long thru-hikes, cultural rambles and mountain expeditions, each journey shares one defining feature: being truly epic. In this follow-up to Epic Bike Rides and Epic Drives, we share our adventures on the world’s best treks and trails. Epic Hikes is organised by continent, with each route brought to life by a first-person account, beautiful photographs and charming illustrated maps. Additionally, each hike includes trip planning advice on how to get there, where to stay, what to pack and where to eat, as well as recommendations for three similar hikes in other regions of the world. Hikes featured include: Africa & the Middle East: Cape Town’s Three Peaks (South Africa) Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) Camp to Camp in South Luangwa National Park (Zambia) Americas: Angel’s Landing, Zion National Park (USA) Skyline Trail, Jasper National Park (Canada) Concepción volcano hike (Nicaragua) Asia: 88 Sacred Temples of Shikoku Pilgrimage (Japan) Markha Valley (India) Gubeikou to Jinshanling on the Great Wall (China) Europe: Wordsworth’s Backyard: Dove Cottage and around Rydal and Grasmere (UK) Alpine Pass Route (Switzerland) Camino de Santiago (Spain) Oceania: Sydney’s Seven Bridges Walk (Australia) The Routeburn Track (New Zealand) Kokoda Track (Papua New Guinea) About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world’s number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we’ve printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You’ll also find our content online, on mobile, video and in 14 languages, 12 international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.

Beyond Mammoth Cave

Beyond Mammoth Cave
Author: James D. Borden
Publisher: SIU Press
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2000-11-20
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0809390388

In Beyond Mammoth Cave: A Tale of Obsession in the World’s Longest Cave, James D. Borden and Roger W. Brucker provide gripping first-person accounts of the discoveries, including Roppel Cave, that made Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave three times longer than any other cave in the world. Borden, a relative newcomer, and Brucker, a veteran explorer, bring a personal and sometimes conflicting view of their roles as adversaries in a race that lasted from 1972 through 1983 to find “big cave.” They describe hazardous adventures, precarious climbs, and close calls from falling rocks. The perils are many and the trek arduous as they squirm through muddy tubes, wade in neck-deep cold water, and crawl over sharp rocks and gritty sand. Theirs is a tale of agonizing endurance spiced by spectacular discoveries. But the cave was not the sole obstacle. The explorations were complicated by political intrigue and the rivalry between the Kentucky-based Cave Research Foundation and the Central Kentucky Karst Coalition, each seeking to make discoveries and hide secrets. Extreme stress, of course, evoked extreme behavior, ranging from selfishness to sacrifice, from outrageous humor to the deadly serious response. Beyond Mammoth Cave includes maps by Patricia Kambesis that show the progression of cave discoveries in relation to the topography. Original line drawings by well-known illustrator Linda Heslop capture the dark mystery of the exploration. The book features five black and white photographs as a color gallery of photographs. A sequel to The Longest Cave by Brucker and Richard A. Watson, this book is a comprehensive update of the speleological investigations in the Mammoth Cave region. Brucker’s involvement provides continuity to the investigation.

The Longest Cave

The Longest Cave
Author: Roger W. Brucker
Publisher: SIU Press
Total Pages: 356
Release: 1987-02-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780809313228

The dramatic story of several generations of cavers whose exciting and dangerous explorations in Kentucky's limestone labyrinths culminated in the big connection between the Flint Ridge Cave System and Mammoth Cave, forming the longest cave in the world.

Lift Your Light a Little Higher

Lift Your Light a Little Higher
Author: Heather Henson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2016-09-06
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 148142095X

The story of Stephen Bishop, a slave and early explorer and guide at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.