Behind the Scenes: Mammoth Cave National Park Superintendent Interview

HAPPY TUESDAY PARK PEOPLE! Today we are releasing our conversation with Barclay Trimble, Mammoth Cave National Park Superintendent. I learned SO much from Barclay and left with Mammoth Cave pretty darn high on my bucket list of national park destinations (the list is growing quite long 😅). Listen NOW on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts 🪩🎉

Barclay & I had a great time and had many laughs throughout our conversation. We are trying something new this newsletter and refining our takeaways - let me know what you think by sending a quick reply 🤝.

Favorite Moment from Interview with Barclay — Listen here

• Barclay discovering a shark tooth “new to science” during a cave expedition. Yes, you read that correctly — new to SCIENCE. Can you imagine going down into Mammoth Cave and looking up at the wall while waiting for your group and the serrated nature of a tooth catching your eye? You call over the shark specialist of the group who collects it, in awe, and you later find out that that shark tooth indicated the discovery of a new shark species? That is exactly what happened to Barclay on an expedition to examine some shark cartilage. This experience definitely adds to the excitement and eagerness of folks going on a cave expedition — everyone is hankering to discover a new species!

One Thing I Learned Interviewing Barclay

• Cave Research Foundation: Six additional miles of Mammoth Cave were discovered a few years ago. In asking Barclay how this happens, he shared about the Cave Research Foundation, which is a volunteer led organization where people volunteer their time to go into caves to explore, document, and even potentially discover new routes or sections. I honestly had no idea this world existed, but people will go in from dawn until dusk in caves, potentially climbing and repelling rock walls and squeezing through sections barely bigger than their head IN THE DARK to explore the cave.

  • I got an even deeper understanding of this at the Banff Film Festival (which I’ll talk about in Maddie’s Outdoor Obsessions), watching the film Subterranean, which followed two cave exploring groups in Canada, and it was insane. I wouldn’t have thought myself claustrophobic until watching this movie.

Interesting Fact About Mammoth Cave National Park

• The preserving nature of the cave: The ambient temperature in the cave is always 54 degrees and the humidity level in the certain areas is pretty much always the same, so there isn’t any freezing/thawing. Nothing really occurs down there to break stuff down on the surface, so things are preserved really well. This includes fossils (even cartilage in many cases) and old newspapers — Barclay, on another of his cave expeditions (he tries to get out as often as he can!) came across a pristine newspaper that was talking about Nixon running for president (!!!).

Maddie’s Outdoor Obsessions

This section will always highlight my favorite picks from the past week in the outdoor & adventure world

• Good & Well Supply Co: A candle company (based in Seattle with a really cute store in Ballard) with NATIONAL PARK themed candles, how cool! Their Theodore Roosevelt National Park candle is one of my favorite smelling candles of all time. I highly recommend checking them out.

• Banff Film Festival: My best friend and I got to go to the Banff Film Festival in Austin last weekend & IT WAS AWESOME. What is it, you ask? It is a traveling film festival (they do screenings on every continent) and industry leader in the celebration of Mountain Culture, promoting understanding and appreciation of the world’s mountain places and boy does it inspire! We saw about 10 short/mid length films and they had me itching for an adventure in the mountains. It was my first time going, but you bet I will be there again next year.  

• Kammok: I’ve been a fan of Kammok since I was in college and they are a local, Austin-based company. What started as a hammock company has expanded into an outdoor gear company, all centered around sturdy and versatile outdoor gear that elevates your time outside. They even have tents that double as hammocks — you’ve got to check them out!

K thx for making it this far, love y’all — see you all for our next episode release May 21st!! (Any guesses on what park we will be hearing from next?!)

Maddie

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