The Best Trip EVER!!!

[bronzzhorse]

With the WNS scare, its getting harder and harder to find untouched places to go. I happen to know about an old abandoned rock quarry that has several small, un-bat-populated caves in and around it. (We think they closed the quarry because they blew open one of the caves, Liberty Cave). I have personally been in the caves several times through the years, and have never seen a bat. Plenty of evidence that they HAD been there, but long in the past. We always assumed the quarrying had ran them off. Well recently I had been hearing rumors of a vertical cave behind the quarry that I was unaware of.
The "PLAN" was for Randy, Myself, Mike, and his son Mark, to go locate and get GPS co-ordinates for the vertical cave behind the quarry, and then do some rappelling IN the quarry. Everything was set, we had gear loaded, full belllies, and were off....Or so we thought....When we arrived at the quarry, the day took an ominous turn when Mike Realized he had forgotten his 150' rope (which he was SURE he had remembered). NO worries...In typical caver fashion, we grabbed my 100 footer from the trunk, and went on with the "plan", dissapointed that we could only string up one rope.
So, were walking back into the quarry, trying to decide which way we should go to get up to the lips on the back side (which is also the area the caves were supposed to be located). We stopped in the middle of the quarry bottom to assess the situation and noticed a couple of huge "Turkey Buzzards" circling above us. Nothing new in a quarry, You see lots of dead "creatures" in quarries, so we made our decision, and started the ascent arount the rim of the quarry towards the top.
I already knew about one very small cave on the trail up to the top, and thought the ledge at the entrance would be a great place to take a breather, and some pictures. After about 30 minutes of fighting up hill through thick undergrowth, we arrived at the entrance to "Vista Cavern". Now to stop a moment, I will decribe Vista to you. It is a very small cave, almost at the very top of a huge ridgeline. It has a low, wide opening, and a 20-30 degree downward slope that continues all the way to the end about 45-55 feet in, and has no formation or biological presence to speak of, bats included. We stop at the entrance, and drop our packs, at which point we all notice a nearly unbearable stench eminating from the cave. Of course, curiosity killed the caver, and, knowing there has never been a bat population in the cave, I HAD to go poking around and at least find out WHAT the smelI was coming from.
In I go, or so I thought. I made it in about 15 feet and heard a scuffle below me. Turning to see what was the source of the sound, I was surprised to see a HUGE Turkey buzzard running at me full tilt, head down, ready to fight (or flog). Out I go, kickin and screaming all 15 feet back out the entrance. After gathering my wits, and realizing I had just made a "girly fool" of myself in front of a 12 year old, we decided, "Hey, let's just run him out, and peek in anyways". At this point Randy pitches a few twigs into the entrance, and Mike, Mark and Myself ready for the possible coming "battle" next to the opening.
The buzzard flies out knocking Randy backwards, and took off, into the trees near the entrance. I noticed at that point that the buzzard had landed in a tree..... RIGHT next to his compadre' we had seen him circling the quarry with earlier. Hmmmm, just coincidence??? Thats what we thought. So all is well, no harm, no foul (except the smell), and we proceed to try and go in. I made my way cautiously in, looking for any stragling residents that may be still hanging out. The smell was HORRIBLE, so I covered my nose with my shirt, despirate to locate the source, and hopefully remove it so the rest of the group (who was BRAVELY wating at the entrance for me to clear the rest of its "residents") could enjoy the cave. As I walked, I noticed a huge pile of something white near the very back of the cave. As I approach the pile, sudenly it twitches in front of me. EUREKA!! the source of the smell.... The buzzards had 2 lovely little babies in there, atop a pile of buzzard poo, and amidst a wealthy collection of carcasses to be used as "baby buzzard formula". I exited as quickly as possible and we gathered our gear to move on and give the birds their nursery back. And on to the next adventure. That wouldnt be long.
Well as the story goes, there is supposed to be a vertical cave on down the ridge behind the quarry. I already knew about a cave down in that area, but not fitting the description I had been given. So we THOUGHT we were on to something. We walked about a guarter mile down the ridge, and Randy metioned that his grandfather had described the cave we were looking for to him. Low and behold, it was the cave I already knew about, and we were going the hardest possible way to get there. Bust a U-ie. We turn and head back for the quarry, knowing that the cave we had been "looking for" was not even worth the trip it would take to get to it.
Once we arrive back at the quarry, it comes to our attention that my rope is nowhere NEAR long enough for any of the drops on the back side of the quarry. We stopped to evaluate the situation again, and ponder over whether or not we should drop off the backside, into Liberty Cave, located about halfway down the stone face. We couldnt find a decent tie-off above the cave, so we decided on plan Q, and mosied on down toward the lower lips of the quarry. We found a decent spot, and did 6 or 8 short drops and ascents each, then figured, "what the hay? I have been in Liberty Cave many many times, and never seen a bat, so lets go check it out."
Now for the treat. We walked around to the foot of the cliff below the cave, and started the climb up. Scrabbling and clawing all the way, we finally make it to the entrance. From 30 feet away, we could feel a biterly cold breeze blowing out of the cave. We stopped just inside, and got a drink, and dropped any un-neccisary gear. Proceeding on into the cave, we noticed quite a "pongy" odor, and mentioned to each other that apparently every cave in the area stunk, and to look out for more buzzards.
We made it to the "back" in about 3 minutes and were about to call it a day when Mike asked me about the low crawl he spotted. I told him it didnt really go anywhere but a pile of ancient guano, and that was the end. Well, something told me "go ahead and show him where it goes", so on we went. about 20 feet in, the room opens up, and we notice that the ceiling is BLACK with THOUSANDS of bats, and about 5 flittermousing around the air.
Now this is the part where being at the right place at the right time can sometimes be amazing. The bats started falling off the ceiling in groups of 15-20, and plopping into the guano, apparently in the throws of death. At this point we start freaking out completely. Have we brought something in to them? Is our air bothering them? WHAT is going on here?. Another blob of bats starts to fall almost straight above my head, and I put my hand under them to at least help cusion their fall. They didnt fall.... they all scattered all over my hand, clinging to my gloves for dear life. What do you do when 15 bats scatter all over your hand and wont let go? You take the advantage to examine them for WNS. and the news was good.... Form what I saw, none of the bats had anything even resembling WNS. On closer inspection of the sleeping hoards, no WNS was seen either. YAY!!!!!!
So here we are, watching helplessly as bats by the dozens fall from the ceiling. Suddenly, as if on cue, nearly every bat in the room, woke up, took flight, and began to prapare to leave.
We sat in the room together and had a near spiritual experience. Thousands of bats, flying within centimeters of us. Some landed on us and crawled around before flittering off again. The sound was like being inside a wind turbine. It felt like the winds off a mid-summer storm. We started noticing little "rain drops" hitting us. BAT PEE... EWWWWWW...... oh well... not the end of the world, and a small price to pay for the experience we were having. After baout 15 minutes, the bats started thining out, and I started down a small crawl I had been DOWN before, but never to the end. On the way, I noticed several very nice gypsum roses in the cieling. Just the caves way of saying "have a rosey day, my friend".
All in all, we had one of the best, most tiresome, but rewarding Rap/hike/cave trip ANY of us have been on in a VERY long time. It will have to be one AMAZING trip to even BEGIN to top this one.

[paulw]

Wow, Sounds like an amazing crazy trip. I wish I would have been there. Plus that scary incident with the bats. Sounds like batman begins. I think I would have crapped my pants. And Bat Pee...??!?!?!?
Ewww like you have said. And buzzard poo… Oh No! But in the end i think your trip was worth it. Since you can tell now everybody who has seen „Batman Begins“ That you have been there... ;)