Into the Labyrinth / by Dave Hileman

We took a third tour on Monday morning. This was via the Historic Entrance and we walked about 1 mile into the cave. Only 400+ to go! We say the remains of the salt peter production that was done here from about 1790 to 1815. Salt peter is used to make black gunpowder. There were hundreds of names on the ceiling and walls of the cave from early travelers and guides. They were usually done with candle soot. This is a very dry section of the cave and perishable artifacts have endured here for 100’s of years some dating back to about 3000 BC.

After the tour we altered our schedule and came to Fishing Creek Campground a ACOE place and they are always nice. We are near Somerset and headed to a new park on Tuesday. We have almost no service so if you are reading this later than usual, I had to post as we traveled north toward Camp Nelson.