Friday, September 8, 2017

To The Bat Cave!

One night a week there is a guided walk to the bat cave on the El Calderon Loop Trail.  Before getting to the bat cave, our Ranger guide made several stops along the way.

Junction cave is a lava tube created by the lava flows from nearby El Calderon Cinder Cone.  It’s 115,000 years old.  Junction Cave has more cave-adapted species than any other cave in El Malpais.
Junction Cave
By the time we got to the bat cave, the bats were already flying.
 Thousands of Mexican Freetailed Bats. 

Our guide indicated that this cave was a “bachelor pad.”  So far, White-nose-syndrome has not been found in any New Mexico caves. 

We stayed until all the bats had left.

On the way back to the truck we enjoyed a beautiful pink sunset.


We were surprised that it was still light by the time all the bats had left the cave.

Teri

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