[Rockhounds] Explorers add 8 miles to world's longest known cave system

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

The world's longest known cave system just set a new record after surveyors
spent hours mapping an additional 8 miles (13 kilometers) of the
passageways at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.

The corridors at Mammoth Cave now measure a whopping 420 miles (676 km) in
length, according to the National Park Service (NPS). That's about the
distance between New York City and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Mapping the cave system was a huge undertaking, carried out by volunteers
at the Cave Research Foundation (CRF), a Kentucky-based nonprofit group,
and other locals, including those from the Central Kentucky Karst Coalition.

"Many of the cave trips are long and arduous, involving climbing, vertical
exposure, squeezes, crawlways, water and mud," Karen Willmes, the eastern
operations manager with CRF, *said in an NPS statement*
<https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/news/mammoth-cave-national-park-adds-new-miles-to-cave-length.htm>
released
on Sept. 11. "After the trip, cartographers turn the data collected on the
cave trip into a map. Other volunteers provide surface support. It's a
first-rate effort for a world-class cave, and we're proud to be a part of
it."

https://www.livescience.com/mammoth-cave-system-kentucky-record