Today, we got up at about 6:30 a.m. to prepare for a ½ day trip down the Green River. While Dad got ready for the day, the boys and I headed to the Travertine Restaurant to try their breakfast buffet. The boys stuffed themselves with French toast, sausage, biscuits and gravy and orange juice and I ate my absolute favorite ever breakfast – oatmeal, fruit and milk. A breakfast for champions – and we definitely needed it.
We swooped back by the room to pick up Dad and head back out to Cave City and the Green River Canoeing company where we would pick up our canoe and lifejackets. After signing the necessary paperwork that assured the company that we would not sue them if we all landed in the river and suffered bodily injury – we piled in the van and headed to the drop off point at Dennison Ferry.
Our canoe was a green, plastic three-seater. The company gave us two oars – one long and one short. The loading dock was twenty-five steps down some stairs and was just wide enough for one boat at a time. The driver took one look at the boating customers – a family of three with a 5-year-old girl; a nice couple, their grandparents and their two toddler children from Japan; a father/son team; and the family of four with two boys from Kansas – and loaded us in the water first.
The trip down river began like any other. Green trees, peaceful water, partly cloudy skies with plenty of shade and plenty of sunlight. My oldest was in the front with a paddle, I was in the middle seat with my youngest on a pad at my feet and Dad was holding up the rear. We floated the first couple of miles chatting about the nature that we saw, watching my youngest trailing leaves and his hands in the water and getting splashed occasionally by the wild paddler in the front of the boat.
At one turn, we smelled a little bit of nature taking care of its dead and dying at which point my youngest immediately removed his hands from the water. “That’s the last time I’m puttin’ my hands in that!” he announced with great conviction. Shortly thereafter, we got out of the canoe on a small island and walked around for a while. The pull of the water was too much and our six-year-old was soon back in the water, hands feet and body scrounging for living river clams to pick up, proclaim found, and return to the water.
We loaded back in the boat a little wetter than when we started and headed back down river thinking we would soon dry out. Shortly downstream we began to hear a low rumble. As we continued to paddle, a nice gentle rain began. “Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head,” I sang. Then, we looked ahead. “Look at that,” my husband said calmly. “A wall of rain, heading our way.” And it sure was.
We paddled to a steep, muddy shoreline and took shelter under an overhanging tree for the slightly more than gentle rainstorm. The tree managed to keep us and the canoe dry. “Should we start out?” asked my husband. After tuning in to the sound of the storm, I suggested that we stay put for just a little longer. We were glad that we did.
Here came the next pass – but this time it was a little more than a rainstorm. The skies opened and completely drenched us. We were slightly sheltered under the tree, but the rain was too heavy and coming too fast for the leaves to hold. Now, not only were we dealing with the rain, but we had two boys that were more than a little freaked out by being outside, with no roof over their heads, and caught smack dab in the middle of a storm that most like to view from their windows. We also had a canoe that was beginning to fill with a little water.
Out of the canoe we came. We scrambled up the muddy bank as much as we could. I was completely occupied calming a very frightened six-year-old and my oldest was pulling it together to help his dad tip the canoe over to dump the water and keep more water from pooling in the bottom.
After a while in this very precarious position, it became apparent that the weather under the tree was worse than the weather outside of it. So, we tipped the canoe back over and headed out again – with one small change. “Mom, you paddle,” came the request from the two boys. “Let’s just get back to the hotel.” And, so, with only six miles further to go, mom and dad paddled the canoe back out into the overcast skies.
As it turned out, we only had to seek shelter one more time – during which Dad maneuvered the canoe under a low hanging, muddy branch that quickly deposited a softball size clump of mud onto the top of my head. The boys of course thought this was hilarious – and it did help to lighten the tension coming from our youngest son. So, mom took one for the team.
This next rain shower was short lived and we were able to push back downstream fairly quickly. It is amazing how such an adventure can bond complete strangers together. For the remainder of the trip we ended up passing several folks who had pulled over to attempt to dry out just a bit. We felt somehow closer to these kindred river spirits and they to us. We waved. We passed greetings back and forth. And, we laughed together. One elderly gentleman summed it up by saying as we passed, “Did you run into a little rain back there?”
On this final section of the river, we held some deep, family discussions about “That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” We marveled at a deer eating leaves close by the shore. And, we sang “The Bear Song.” When it ended, we were ready to be done.
After docking at the Green River Ferry takeout and storing our canoe, oars and lifejackets for pickup, we headed back to the hotel for lunch and a much needed shower. We relaxed for just a few minutes until it was time for our cave tour in the afternoon.
Mammoth Cave is the world’s longest known cave and has 15 options of tours ranging from an extremely easy, self guided nature hike around the historic entrance of the cave to a six and ½ hour crawling, belly sliding, wall climbing, honest-to-goodness spelunking experience.
The Kansas Hicks’ chose the River Styx tour – one that focuses on how the cave was formed by the forces of water. Our tour took us to the very bottom of the cave (360 feet or a little more than the length of a football field) and up and down 497 stairs. At the bottom, we saw the Dead Sea, the River Styx and the Echo River – tributaries of the Green River and the very same rivers that are continuing to form the cave passages and shafts that we were exploring.
There were several highlights on the tour – not the least of which was the bathroom stop halfway through. The boys were absolutely impressed with the fact that the bathroom ceiling was rock from the cave. We also saw a cave cricket. The park ranger bringing up the rear said it was a female and shone her flashlight on it so that she could show the boys just how she could tell that marvelous piece of information. We also stopped in the very same spot where Ralph Waldo Emerson penned some lines of poetry describing his experience. Our tour guide read the stanzas that referred to the places where we were standing and looking.
When we returned to the surface, we finished our junior ranger papers, got our stamp in our national park passport book, heard the boys’ successful completion announced over the loud speaker, got their badges, and headed to eat while our bodies acclimated to being above ground in the more heated, humid environment.
After dinner, we walked off the incredible meal by walking around the park grounds for a while and then returned to our room for bed. What an incredible day. What an incredible park. And we haven’t even scratched the surface.
We swooped back by the room to pick up Dad and head back out to Cave City and the Green River Canoeing company where we would pick up our canoe and lifejackets. After signing the necessary paperwork that assured the company that we would not sue them if we all landed in the river and suffered bodily injury – we piled in the van and headed to the drop off point at Dennison Ferry.
Our canoe was a green, plastic three-seater. The company gave us two oars – one long and one short. The loading dock was twenty-five steps down some stairs and was just wide enough for one boat at a time. The driver took one look at the boating customers – a family of three with a 5-year-old girl; a nice couple, their grandparents and their two toddler children from Japan; a father/son team; and the family of four with two boys from Kansas – and loaded us in the water first.
The trip down river began like any other. Green trees, peaceful water, partly cloudy skies with plenty of shade and plenty of sunlight. My oldest was in the front with a paddle, I was in the middle seat with my youngest on a pad at my feet and Dad was holding up the rear. We floated the first couple of miles chatting about the nature that we saw, watching my youngest trailing leaves and his hands in the water and getting splashed occasionally by the wild paddler in the front of the boat.
At one turn, we smelled a little bit of nature taking care of its dead and dying at which point my youngest immediately removed his hands from the water. “That’s the last time I’m puttin’ my hands in that!” he announced with great conviction. Shortly thereafter, we got out of the canoe on a small island and walked around for a while. The pull of the water was too much and our six-year-old was soon back in the water, hands feet and body scrounging for living river clams to pick up, proclaim found, and return to the water.
We loaded back in the boat a little wetter than when we started and headed back down river thinking we would soon dry out. Shortly downstream we began to hear a low rumble. As we continued to paddle, a nice gentle rain began. “Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head,” I sang. Then, we looked ahead. “Look at that,” my husband said calmly. “A wall of rain, heading our way.” And it sure was.
We paddled to a steep, muddy shoreline and took shelter under an overhanging tree for the slightly more than gentle rainstorm. The tree managed to keep us and the canoe dry. “Should we start out?” asked my husband. After tuning in to the sound of the storm, I suggested that we stay put for just a little longer. We were glad that we did.
Here came the next pass – but this time it was a little more than a rainstorm. The skies opened and completely drenched us. We were slightly sheltered under the tree, but the rain was too heavy and coming too fast for the leaves to hold. Now, not only were we dealing with the rain, but we had two boys that were more than a little freaked out by being outside, with no roof over their heads, and caught smack dab in the middle of a storm that most like to view from their windows. We also had a canoe that was beginning to fill with a little water.
Out of the canoe we came. We scrambled up the muddy bank as much as we could. I was completely occupied calming a very frightened six-year-old and my oldest was pulling it together to help his dad tip the canoe over to dump the water and keep more water from pooling in the bottom.
After a while in this very precarious position, it became apparent that the weather under the tree was worse than the weather outside of it. So, we tipped the canoe back over and headed out again – with one small change. “Mom, you paddle,” came the request from the two boys. “Let’s just get back to the hotel.” And, so, with only six miles further to go, mom and dad paddled the canoe back out into the overcast skies.
As it turned out, we only had to seek shelter one more time – during which Dad maneuvered the canoe under a low hanging, muddy branch that quickly deposited a softball size clump of mud onto the top of my head. The boys of course thought this was hilarious – and it did help to lighten the tension coming from our youngest son. So, mom took one for the team.
This next rain shower was short lived and we were able to push back downstream fairly quickly. It is amazing how such an adventure can bond complete strangers together. For the remainder of the trip we ended up passing several folks who had pulled over to attempt to dry out just a bit. We felt somehow closer to these kindred river spirits and they to us. We waved. We passed greetings back and forth. And, we laughed together. One elderly gentleman summed it up by saying as we passed, “Did you run into a little rain back there?”
On this final section of the river, we held some deep, family discussions about “That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” We marveled at a deer eating leaves close by the shore. And, we sang “The Bear Song.” When it ended, we were ready to be done.
After docking at the Green River Ferry takeout and storing our canoe, oars and lifejackets for pickup, we headed back to the hotel for lunch and a much needed shower. We relaxed for just a few minutes until it was time for our cave tour in the afternoon.
Mammoth Cave is the world’s longest known cave and has 15 options of tours ranging from an extremely easy, self guided nature hike around the historic entrance of the cave to a six and ½ hour crawling, belly sliding, wall climbing, honest-to-goodness spelunking experience.
The Kansas Hicks’ chose the River Styx tour – one that focuses on how the cave was formed by the forces of water. Our tour took us to the very bottom of the cave (360 feet or a little more than the length of a football field) and up and down 497 stairs. At the bottom, we saw the Dead Sea, the River Styx and the Echo River – tributaries of the Green River and the very same rivers that are continuing to form the cave passages and shafts that we were exploring.
There were several highlights on the tour – not the least of which was the bathroom stop halfway through. The boys were absolutely impressed with the fact that the bathroom ceiling was rock from the cave. We also saw a cave cricket. The park ranger bringing up the rear said it was a female and shone her flashlight on it so that she could show the boys just how she could tell that marvelous piece of information. We also stopped in the very same spot where Ralph Waldo Emerson penned some lines of poetry describing his experience. Our tour guide read the stanzas that referred to the places where we were standing and looking.
When we returned to the surface, we finished our junior ranger papers, got our stamp in our national park passport book, heard the boys’ successful completion announced over the loud speaker, got their badges, and headed to eat while our bodies acclimated to being above ground in the more heated, humid environment.
After dinner, we walked off the incredible meal by walking around the park grounds for a while and then returned to our room for bed. What an incredible day. What an incredible park. And we haven’t even scratched the surface.
