mountainborn
03-21-2006, 10:04 PM
Here is the latest cache log entry as written by Kiamichi Muskrat:
>
When I saw this listing, I knew I had to go. How rare is it for a geocache to be in a cave? Pretty darn rare. I contacted Mountainborn, who graciously agreed to take Shotgun Harry and I to the cache. Off we went down dirt road after road after road after road, twisting and turning through the mountains and forest. This is GORGEOUS land and truly wild. When we reached the bat cave area, I didn't have my GPS on but I could tell we were close because there were other noticeable caves here and there. When we arrived at the bat cave, I got a serious feeling in my gut - there is was, the thing I had driven many miles to explore, right there in the hillside. It was a diamond-shaped hole, black as midnight, surrounded by ferns and green moss. A beautiful creek flowed right in front of it.
We crossed the creek and reached the entrance. I entered first, turned on my headlamp, and plunged knee deep into quano water. It was freezing cold, colder than the creek outside by far, but I was more concerned with splashing and making too much noise - I didn't want to awaken the bats. Not five feet into the cave, there were already large clusters of little brown bats all over the ceiling and down the walls. We proceeded silenty, basically holding our breaths, into the depths. We eventually found the wooden planks on the floor. Mountainborn had told us this was once a Spanish silver mine. No sooner did I think that than I saw silvery glitter all over the walls! It was foxfire, or some kind of bioluminsence.
The first three bats to buzz me came off the walls and began flapping around my face! It was scary, but I ducked down and let them past. I began to hear hissing and screeching on the walls and was afraid they would wake up. We proceeded more quickly, getting out of the water finally and making it to the back of the cave. I found the cache in short order but forgot to bring a pen! I ended up leaving a credit card slip from when I gassed up earlier in the day. It doesn't have my number, but it has my real name on it.
We made our way out of the cave and a few bats woke up, but we didn't get swarmed. This was an incredible adventure. I wish all geocaches were this good. I also find it unfortunate that most people won't come after this remote cache, choosing instead to get 50 micro caches a day in cities. That's their game, but this is mine. Thanks so much. This is in my Top 10 of all time.
>
When I saw this listing, I knew I had to go. How rare is it for a geocache to be in a cave? Pretty darn rare. I contacted Mountainborn, who graciously agreed to take Shotgun Harry and I to the cache. Off we went down dirt road after road after road after road, twisting and turning through the mountains and forest. This is GORGEOUS land and truly wild. When we reached the bat cave area, I didn't have my GPS on but I could tell we were close because there were other noticeable caves here and there. When we arrived at the bat cave, I got a serious feeling in my gut - there is was, the thing I had driven many miles to explore, right there in the hillside. It was a diamond-shaped hole, black as midnight, surrounded by ferns and green moss. A beautiful creek flowed right in front of it.
We crossed the creek and reached the entrance. I entered first, turned on my headlamp, and plunged knee deep into quano water. It was freezing cold, colder than the creek outside by far, but I was more concerned with splashing and making too much noise - I didn't want to awaken the bats. Not five feet into the cave, there were already large clusters of little brown bats all over the ceiling and down the walls. We proceeded silenty, basically holding our breaths, into the depths. We eventually found the wooden planks on the floor. Mountainborn had told us this was once a Spanish silver mine. No sooner did I think that than I saw silvery glitter all over the walls! It was foxfire, or some kind of bioluminsence.
The first three bats to buzz me came off the walls and began flapping around my face! It was scary, but I ducked down and let them past. I began to hear hissing and screeching on the walls and was afraid they would wake up. We proceeded more quickly, getting out of the water finally and making it to the back of the cave. I found the cache in short order but forgot to bring a pen! I ended up leaving a credit card slip from when I gassed up earlier in the day. It doesn't have my number, but it has my real name on it.
We made our way out of the cave and a few bats woke up, but we didn't get swarmed. This was an incredible adventure. I wish all geocaches were this good. I also find it unfortunate that most people won't come after this remote cache, choosing instead to get 50 micro caches a day in cities. That's their game, but this is mine. Thanks so much. This is in my Top 10 of all time.