Wildcat Ridge - The Bat Cave

The second half of our Wildcat Ridge outing was spent at the bat cave. There's bars in front of the cave to keep people out. That's a good thing on multiple levels. Why do humans think they have a right to go everywhere? Some things should be left just for the animals.
The most striking thing about the cave was the cold draft just walking up to it. There was a nice rift adjacent to the cave. You could see a cold breeze coming from their too.


We decided to bum around the area until dusk to see if we could see the bats come out of the cave. September is supposed to be the prime month and we felt that we were close enough to September to give it a shot. Nevermind the unseasonable warmth. We weren't the only ones with that idea. The observation deck was full and we decided to climb the hill to get another vantage point above the cave entrance. We waited and waited and nothing. Then it got dark so we scrambled back down to the deck. We waited some more and then about 10 people complete with flashlights start approaching us. They were from a nature group and their leader was one of those annoying know it all types. Now if they had gotten their earlier (during daylight) they would have read the very informative sign that says you should stay away from the cave entrance to avoid disturbing the bats that are trying to fly out. Nope. This massive group heads right to the cave and decides to hang out. Everyone back at the deck starts grumbling about this and finally someone decides to put a stop to this. The group heads back and we decide to back off and reassess the situation. It's now almost an hour past sunset. We take off disheartened having seen more planes than bats in the sky.


I did some research and it looks the bats should already be hibernating in the cave. They will be back out in April and so will we.


The bars and surrounding rocks were covered in bat guano. This pic doesn't do justice at all.