Researchers working 161 feet beneath your feet in the late 1990’s felt a breeze coming from between some rocks – a hint that a void lay beyond. Moving rocks, they crawled into a passage shown on no map. Their lights found burnt touches, untouched since the last visitors left them – over 2000 years earlier. The researchers left until they could bring an archaeologist with them to record the find. In time, they would name the new passage “Watson Trace” after archaeologist Patty Jo Watson and geologist Red Watson, whose research here led to much of what we know today about Mammoth Cave’s ancient explorers. This section of the cave is not open to the public. 

NPS Mobile App Users: Click here to watch a video of a ranger at Watson Trace.