Small Caves Full of Wonder

Small Caves Full of Wonder

Being new to Wyoming caving limits the number the number of trip invites I receive. I am still working on contacts and building relationships with those who have been caving here for years. I was very excited to get my first invite on a trip with the Forest Service. The purpose of our trip,lead by wildlife biologists, was to look for bats and just check these caves out.  

The entrance to the first cave required a squeeze on your belly through a dusty passage and a sharp turn.

We found what we were looking for, a couple of Townsend's Big-eared bats plus a few more.

There was this dogtooth calcite spar in a few locations that had a dark stain (maybe iron oxides).

This cave included a small room and some very low and small side chambers. We encountered a curious packrat who hid when it was time for his picture. We left the bats and squeezed back out into the sunlight.

The next cave was a little larger and was completely covered in calcite crystals. Here is a closeup  of some near the entrance.

Here is the entrance which was also covered in crystals with some of the thickness exposed.

Though it is not needed, there is an old ladder to aid visitors with this short entrance drop to a slope.

Here is a view from the lower level where you can see light from the entrance.

We found this cricket and some flies but no bats. We did notice some moth and butterfly wings, evidence of bats, in the lower level.

This is a closeup of some boxwork we encountered where some of the bedrock has weathered away to leave the more resistant veins.

 

 This is just a nice view of some really large crystals around 2 inches long.

 Some of the crystals had subaerial coralloids covering them.

We also found a great number of old bones on both levels but were not able to identify them without someone versed in vertebrate paleontology.

The lower passage had low ceilings and a floor covered in debris, packrat feces, broken crystals and some breakdown.

Upon exiting this cave we noticed a small passage above the entrance and decided to explore it. Many of the crystals were dusted with algae and a gray mineral possibly a manganese oxide.

Algae covered crystals in the upper passage make a colorful spot.