After spending two months in Ocala on the horse show circuit, I headed back toward Texas with a detour to northeastern Alabama to visit The Unclaimed Baggage Store. It was time to let my dog Annie stretch her legs, so after completing my secondhand shopping we ventured to Cathedral Caverns State Park.
The park, only 21 miles southwest of Scottsboro, features five hiking trails, RV and tent camping, cave tours, gem mining, and many educational programs. Since I am infatuated by caves, the cavern tour was a big draw for me.
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Cathedral Caverns Cave Tour
Cathedral Caverns State Park offers tours every two hours from 10 am to 4 pm on weekdays and every hour from 10 am to 4 pm on weekends. Due to its educational programs, the morning tours in the spring and fall are very popular for school field trips. As a result, it is recommended to book your visit in advance for the afternoon.
I booked the 4pm tour on Monday the previous day and ended up being the only one on the cave tour! It was a surprise to me and to my enthusiastic tour guide. I wish I could remember his name, but he is so enthralled with the cave, that he still had a hard time keeping the tour to only 90 minutes while driving me along the concrete paths in a golf cart!
I certainly wasn’t expecting such royal treatment! Though a part of me wanted to walk because the year round 58 degrees was starting to get chilly….brrr.
About Cathedral Caverns
The Cathedral Caverns is a karst cave with an entrance 25 feet high and 128 feet wide making it the largest commercial cave entrance in the world. Other notable features include one of the largest stalagmites in the world, measuring 243 feet in circumference and a 135-foot flowstone “waterfall” which is pretty cool!
Personally, I also liked seeing the shark teeth and fossils found in the Monteagle Limestone dating back millions of years as well as several critters including cave spiders, bats and even a millipede.
And of course, I love the stalagmite forests and any reflection pool. The Mystery River flows all the way through the cave and recently flooded, so it changed some of the features. My favorite cave fomation was the iguana and a cactus. And because the cave is so damp inside, it actually looked green due to the algae and lampenflora.
I really enjoyed the cave tour!
History of Cathedral Caverns
In addition to critters, humans have the cave for centuries. A 1988 excavation of Cathedral Caverns found artifacts of early inhabitants such as arrowheads, spear points, hide scrapers, and animal bones which date back to 6,000 BC.
During the Civil war, the cave became known as Kennamer’s Cove because the Kennamer family lived in it after the Union soldiers burned down their farmhouse. In addition, local lore suggests that draft dodgers and deserters hid in Cathedral Caverns during this timeframe.
In 1952, Jay Gurley, an amateur spelunker, made it his mission for others to be able to enjoy the cave. Over the next 7 years, he and his friends pounded, chiseled, and dynamited pathways through the cave and installed forty miles of wiring for lights. Cathedral Caverns accepted visitors until 1974 after which the cave experienced a variety of difficulties and ownerships until the State of Alabama purchased Cathedral Caverns in 1987.
The state began restoration work in 1995 and reopened Cathedral Caverns to the public in 2000. With its golf cart width path, it accepts hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.
Hiking in Cathedral Caverns State Park
In addition to taking the cave tour, I also went hiking with my crazy dog Annie so she could stretch her legs. Cathedral Caverns State Park has five color coded trails. There is a short red loop by the cave, but the other four loops are found on the other side of the road to the park entrance.
These loops range from 1.1 to 1.8 miles and may be connected for a 5.6 mile hike. Annie and I only had about an hour, so we connected a portion of the green and yellow trails. Given we visited in February, the trees were dormant and without leaves, so I can’t say it was the prettiest hike I have ever done.
That said, I imagine it is glorious during autumn when the leaves change to vibrant reds and yellows. This park would be a leaf peepers delight for the fall colors, as would Guntersville State Park another gem I found during my journey back to Texas. A girls weekend is calling my name in October or November. ETB
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I think bats are COOL! Nice pics!
Whoa, a 243 foot stalactite? Holy cow!
Beautiful!
Wow, incredible formations!