For $10.07 (tax included) you too can be an 'official miner' at Mammoth Cave. These mining hats along with other various items are for sale at the Mammoth Cave Hotel Gift shop.

Six-year-old Cedric Nichols climbs upon the visitor center sign while his four-year-old brother, Trevor, stays closer to the ground. They were waiting for their grandfather, Grady Arlington, who works at Mammoth Cave park.

Visitors descend the stairs leading to the historical entrance of Mammoth Cave. It is the only natural entrance that can be accessed by the public.

Joey Islas, a ranger at Mammoth Cave National Park, squeezes through a cavern while leading a group of visitors on a tour called the Frozen Naigra. When entering the cave for this tour, a visitor must descend a staircase that cost approximately one milion dollars to build. Joey has been working as a guide for a year and is a student at Western Kentucky.

Thirteen-year-Linsey Grubbs, three-year-old David Burton and his mother, Judy Burton, check out the stalactites decorting an area known as the 'Drapery Room' in Mammoth Cave. The three are from Waynesburg Kentucky and were on their first tour through the cave.

Mammoth Park guide Stephanie Elmore discusses the features of the 'Drapery Room' during the Travertine Tour through the cave. The Drapery Room and the Great Onyx Cave are two of the only areas that have stalactite and stalagmite formations that are shown to the public.

Seventy six years ago a Purdue University graduate etched his pride in the walls of the longest cave in the world. At that time visitors could pay make their mark in Mammoth Cave. Today graffitti is a federal offense.

Mammoth Park guide, Brice Leech, prepares lanterns for the Violet City Lantern Tour. Participants on this tour use only the flicker of flame to explore some of the biggest rooms in the cave. This tour is a way for visitors to get a sense of what it was like to be in a cave before the convenience of electricity.

A lone spider weaves its' web in a fence on Old Lexington road. Despite its apparent isolation, in Kentucky there are likely to be a million more spiders in the surrounding acre.