A Snapshot and The Scoop: Tiny Bats!

Longhorn Cavern State Park is home to the smallest, most adorable bat I've ever seen! The Eastern Pipistrelle Bat, tiny little things about the size of your thumb, don't roost in huge numbers but prefer to be solitary except during the mating season. I was privileged enough to see a couple of these tiny creatures on my tour of the cavern, and I got way too excited. I love bats, and being able to see such a small one so close was a treat. A side note: I did not shine the light on this little guy, he chose to roost above one of the lights of the cave, so he was lit up already. I was just able to snap a picture of him thanks to his roost choice!

Leave me a comment below and let me know, do you like bats as much as I do?

Taking the Road Less Travelled

Charmed. Let me set the scene: I was driving along a winding mountian highway, reveling in the curves and downhills, when I see a brown sign and a dirt road pointing away to my left. If you're any kind of outdoorsy you know that brown signs usually denote some sort of natural area/attraction. I wasn't really in any hurry to get anywhere, just cruising along in the Ouichita Mountains of central Arkansas seeing whatever I could see. I drove half a mile more up the road before I hit my brakes and flipped a u-turn. I decided to see where the road would take me. Taking that road ended up being my favorite part of the weekend I spent in Arkansas in mid-March. I bounced along National Forest Service Road 177 for miles, pushing my little Yaris up and down the mountainous terrain like it was a highway. Granted, I wasn't going very fast or anything, but it was still a one-lane mountain road in the backcountry. I had my music on as loud as possible, windows down, and heater on. My kind of road!

I wasn't even sure what I was on my way to go see; I only knew I was enjoying the drive and that I had a full tank of gas and all day to spend exploring. I love days like that. I came around a corner and saw the roof of a building, and an empty dirt patch that was clearly a parking lot. I pulled up and stopped, checking out the little mountain stream and the picnic pavillion. It wasn't until I got out of the car and walked toward the wood and brick building that I realized that this was actually a spring, with the pavillion built right over it so that the icy water shot out of the foundation of the building. I decided it was a lovely place to eat my brunch, so I grabbed my food and my camera and spent half an hour at Collier Spring (as I later found out it was named) just hanging out. I'm sure that during the summer the cool spring and mountain stream feel amazing, and there was a little swimming hole in the stream that someone had clearly put some effort into building. I would LOVE to go back and camp there this summer...assumming I can find it again!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Stone Animals Underground

On my recent trip to Longhorn Cavern State Park, nestled within the hill country of Texas, our guide pointed out this unusually-shaped stone. The story goes that the CCC workers who originally excavated the cave during the Great Depression found the rock burried in mud at the back of the cave, shaped exactly as you see above. The rock was moved to the front of the cave once public tours of the cave began. On one such tour, a lady accidentally leaned against the rock and pushed it over, breaking it in two. After cementing it back together, the park staff also cemented to it's rock pedestal to prevent any further damage. Whether the rock was truly found in this shape, I don't know, but its still a neat little story!

Leave me a comment below and tell me what you think: Was this rock eroded to this shape, or did Man have a little something to do with it?