19 May 2016, Thursday

We have decided to walk some of the shorter above ground trails at Mammoth today. We begin
again at the Visitor Center, this time with a ranger “Porch Talk.”
The ranger encourages us to ask about ‘above ground’ things at
Mammoth Cave. A woman asks about his favorite places. He suggests
Sloan’s Pond and Cedar Sink. He also mentions a town not far from
Cedar Sink named Pig, which has a good restaurant.

Now we have some ideas for the day. The weather is perfect for being above
ground and out and about. Our first goal is to walk back down the
trail we explored last night to look for the baby pileated woodpecker
and get some better photos. As we walk, O collects Kelly Kettle wood
in preparation for tomorrow’s rain. There are no sticks remaining at
the campground area. It’s been picked clean.

We easily find “woodpecker tree” and see baby’s head poking out of
the nest. Mama arrives soon for a brief feeding, but my camera is not
quite ready and I miss the actual feeding. I wait for a long time,
while O wanders down the trail and gathers more wood. My arm is
getting pretty tired holding the camera propped against a tree. I
guess a tripod would have been useful. I do film a bit of junior
calling for mom. She finally returns, but I have difficulty getting
the camera zoomed in on the correct spot. I manage to capture
a bit of the feeding on video.

We leave the pileated woodpeckers behind and wander down the trail. We photograph swallows by the River Styx. Then we head back to camp
to drop off our wood supply and eat some lunch. It has been a good
morning for birds. We saw bluebirds and a kingbird on our way to the
woodpecker trail.

After lunch we head to Sloan Pond, a rare surface water feature here, as
most water quickly runs into sinkholes and underground. We see more
birds at the pond and also turtles and frogs. Beaver and otter have
been spotted here, but we do not see them today. I catch a glimpse of
a copperhead slithering under the boardwalk.

From Sloan Pond we drive to Cedar Sink, a karst sinkhole where the
sandstone and shale roof has been eroded away from the underlying
limestone. Here we can see what is, essentially, an unroofed cave. An
underground river finds the daylight here, flows a short distance on
the surface and then disappears underground again, carrying with it
essential nutrients for some of the cave critters who never see
daylight.

The afternoon is passing quickly. We return to camp. O cuts wood into
Kelly Kettle sized pieces. I have time for a very welcome shampoo
with hot (from the Kelly Kettle) water. Then O has his turn and even
shaves. My, how presentable we look! Good enough for a mini bourbon
tour tomorrow in the rain!