Posts Tagged With: bats

It was time to leave the bourbon sampling behind and head out to Carter Caves State Park, just east of Lexington.  To update you on the gasoline situation and check engine light, my next fill-up was with a higher octane gas and another can of high mileage Seafoam cleaner and the engine seems to be running just fine.  I believe the source of the problem was a low octane gas from Buc-ee’s that caused the problems.  We did just fine on the drive to Carter Caves.

Our camping spot this time is at Carter Caves State Resort Park, arriving on a Saturday.  The excitement here is for the caves and hiking trails.  We wound ourselves along a pretty narrow road, creek on one side, wall of limestone on the other and plenty of cars heading past us.  Seems awfully busy for a rather remote spot in the Daniel Boone National Forest.  Arriving in the campground explained things, it was loaded with trailers, trucks and kids and bikes and more kids and more bikes … wow.  Fortunately our spot was a pull thru but once we unhooked the Jeep we decided it would be a better back-into spot.  Very tight quarters among the pickups and trailers.  Let’s hope things change by Monday morning.  We leave on Tuesday.

At the Welcome Center we learned there was an afternoon tour of X Cave, so we booked it, changed into the proper shoes and sweatshirts and followed the guide into the very cold cave.  X Cave is so named because you can traverse two passageways that cross in the middle, each one passes through the hill, so you enter, cross, exit the back, then return back into the cave to walk the other passage.  The cave was a dry cave with very few drip stones but some nice formations and pretty easy walking, if narrow.  It had lights added and some modifications made in the 40’s and 50’s to make passage easier (you used to have to climb a rope ladder to get to the entrance).  Even though not pristine, these are very cool caves.

As we drove back to camp I spotted some distinctive black and white birds that compelled me to grab the camera and walk back to catch them.  Not much luck, so back to the campsite I went.  Our neighbor noticed the camera and said “you looking for those woodpeckers?”  “Yes, but no luck,” I replied.  “Well they’ve been busy all day in the tree above you.”  What?? Sure enough, a pair of red-headed woodpeckers were digging a nest into the upper trunk of the tree – right above us.  So, I was able to get a few good shots.  Nice bird.

Gorgeous sunny weather meant the temperature climbed into the 80’s, then dipped down pretty cool at night.  I feel like we have traveled back in seasonal time, too, since the leaves here are just coming out – mostly a lot of oaks with pollen (I thought we were done with that).  Back home we went through this about 2 – 3 weeks ago.  

Sunday morning we booked an early tour of another cave, Cascade Cave.  This cave had some water dripping and flowing into it, with a few more formations and several large rooms.  We saw some small bats along the way and got a pretty good picture of one hanging tight to the ceiling.  Maybe the size of a large prune.  Excellent hike though. Video of the two caves is posted here: Hiking Carter Caves

We also hiked short distances to see some of the natural bridges here in the park.  Some of them are huge, wide and tall tunnels through the rock, one seemed ready to fully collapse, with stacks of shale looking more like stacks of books.  One has the roadway crossing above.  Lots of wildflowers blooming, most of which I remember, some ID eludes me (and I left our books at home).  All of them look very cool up close.  I found out the lodge on property had pretty good WI-FI so I was able to upload the first part of the blog for you to read.

Tonight is steaks on the grill and some bourbon drinks sitting out in the very nice evening while we watch the campground empty out.  It is about 90% empty now, as the weekenders head home.  Much quieter and relaxing.

Monday morning was our day to try another cave, self-guided Horn Hollow Cave.  We needed a permit to hike this, so at the Welcome Center we filled out the form as the ranger asked “You have flashlights?”  Yes. “You know about the water, right?”  No, what water?  It seems a creek runs through this cave, from ankle to mid calf deep, and we needed to rethink our shoes and pants.  Back to the campsite to put on shorts and pack some water shoes.  Now we were set to begin the hike to the cave, up and around some boulders, cliff faces and such, pretty much up most of the way until we slipped down to a dry creek bed where the cave entrance beckoned.  We changed into the water shoes, got our flashlights ready and I put my GoPro on a headband mount.  Ready!

Well, when you are the only ones entering a dark, wet cave, it’s a bit intimidating.  And the water was COLD.  Left? Right? Let’s follow the flow of the water to the right.  It was pretty low in spots, but plenty wide and the flashlights were a big help, obviously.  A small fish and a crayfish were spotted in the water, but no bats around.  After about a quarter mile through the cave, the water began to run downward through a smooth channel and we were quite suddenly at the other end of the cave.  How cool was that?  So now what?  We didn’t see an obvious trail out of the stream bed, so we opted to retrace our steps and go back where we entered.  Changed back into our hiking shoes, had some water and granola bars and rejoined the trail back to the car.  Altogether it was about a 2 mile hike, but once again an uphill climb awaited us just before the end.  A video of the cave portion of the hike is posted here: Horn Hollow Cave

Ok, back at camp and time to chill for the rest of the afternoon.  In the morning we will pack up and drive to Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio for more trails and caves and maybe another week earlier in the spring! Keep an eye out for more of the adventure, and try to look at these pics on a big screen.