How the Kentucky Cave Wars Reshaped the State’s Tourism Industry

Re:How the Kentucky Cave Wars Reshaped the State’s Tourism I... by malfist on Wednesday August 02, 2023 @08:17AM (#36969836)

Fun to see my state on hacker news for something positive.

Kentucky has what's called karst topography. Meaning that our bedrock is predominantly calcite rocks like limestone. These rocks are worn away by anything slightly acidic, including rain.

Groundwater, which we have plenty of, makes for lots of sinkholes and caves. Also gives us some really hard water and hay that is high in mineral content. That hay is why Lexington is the horse capital of the world (self proclaimed).

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Re:How the Kentucky Cave Wars Reshaped the State’s Tourism I... by jrh3 on Wednesday August 02, 2023 @09:28AM (#36970614)

Went on a Scout trip to Mammoth Cave in the 90's. What an amazing experience. We did a late night 2 hour+ hike through one of the cave systems. True spelunking!

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Re:How the Kentucky Cave Wars Reshaped the State’s Tourism I... by IggleSniggle on Wednesday August 02, 2023 @09:59AM (#36970999)

I like to call digging through legacy code, "code spelunking." Lots of hidden sinkholes and other invisible dangers there, too!

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Re:How the Kentucky Cave Wars Reshaped the State’s Tourism I... by dendrite9 on Wednesday August 02, 2023 @11:56PM (#36981180)

Kentucky was the first topographically mapped state in the Nation and the only one I think to be completely geologically mapped in detail. I think that's pretty cool.

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