I came here last night to view the bats leaving the cave, and then spent today hiking through the caverns. The caverns are deep.... I walked over 800 feet down (and took an elevator back up!)
This is one of those places that is very difficult to describe. Some of these incredible formations might be considered creepy and grotesque... yet, they are also stunningly beautiful. I can't think of anything else that would fall into this unusual category.
We weren't allowed to take pictures of the 1/2 million bats leaving the cave in the evening. It's strange; the bats all swarm out, and once they exit the cave, they circle a few times in a counter-clockwise motion, then all leave in the same direction to find their evening meal. After viewing their ritual for about 10 minutes, I rushed back to the car to get my camera to see if I can get a shot of some of them from a distance.... it's hard to tell, but there's some specs of bats in the air above the tree.
And this is where the bats exit at dusk/enter at dawn.... and where we enter during the day. I'm sure glad the bats are nocturnal and didn't decide to leave at 11 a.m. today, the time I went down that cave.
Right in the middle of that picture is a petrified bat. According to the Ranger, he's been stuck on that wall for around 20 years.
It doesn't look like it, but the park ranger said that pool of crystal clear water in this pic is close to 8 feet deep.
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