Melrose Caverns, Harrisonburg, VA (part 3)

Melrose Caverns still has more interesting things, even after two postings about it.  Well, don't all caves?  True, but the variety of stuff in Melrose is somewhat amazing given that you can see most all this stuff rather easily in a single trip.  Granted I did about six trips into the cave to get all these photos.

The cave is a graffiti wonder.  And a lot of it is historical stuff.  Lots of Civil War stuff but also things like a Mason's drawing apparently done by one or more of the Harrisons for whom Harrisonburg, VA is named.  I'll get a photo of that next time I get there, as it is complicated and hard to light and I was in the middle of helping with a TV news bit when I learned about it.

Speaking of the news item, it is here and you can watch the video:

http://www.whsv.com/home/headlines/Conservation-Group-Restores-Melrose-Caverns-246857161.html

And while others are documenting all the art/graffiti, here are a few examples.

While lots of this stuff is engraved, there actually are a couple of honest petroglyphs. This one is of a face, and I find it looks like the standard shot of George Washington available back in the day. Most of the soldiers who visited the cave were Union, and there is a pictograph of Abe Lincoln in the cave, so some credence to my interpretation. Your opinion may vary.

An undated old bit, interesting that a woman was noted, as few women went caving back in then.

And just a small section of a calcite column that has loads of historical graffiti. Note that the date 1862 shows up at least twice. Folks are working on who all these people are.

And while the cave is full of this kind of stuff, on to another interesting bit.  Roots.  Toward the back end of the cave it is quite close to the surface, and a number of tree roots have made it into the cave.

Roots popping out of the ceiling, which otherwise seems like solid rock.

A root that has entered the cave via the center of a broken stalactite. Very cool!

And a root with Mycorrhyzae, a fungus (species unknown here) that has a mutualistic association with the tree. The fungus lives off the root, while providing the tree with nutrients. Amazing to see this in the open as normally one would have to dig up some roots for such a photo.

Those were the two big bits that needed added to really cover Melrose Caverns.  But there is more, and I will finish with a set of photos of this, that, and the other thing.

This is some ceiling crud. But I found it unique in the cave. Too high to get a close look. Really looks like a bit of iron or copper exposed, but also could be something quite different... residue from a historic bat hibernaculum cluster. I am leaning toward the bat answer, but this needs studied.

There is life in the cave beyond the hibernating bats. This is a blind millipede, only about 1 centimeter long. I don't know the biology of the cave, so could be a juvenile surface species or a truly cave-adapted blind millipede.

And two passage shots.  I wasn't taking passage shots for the most part, but always nice to get a bit of what the cave looks like.

For the most part, the cave is walking trunk passage with lots of formations.

But a few places require one to get real small. This kid is over five feet tall, but can "walk" through a passage two feet high with his yoga-like abilities.

And finally, I end with a bat, given that by profession I am a bat biologist and generally don't put enough bats on this blog.  It is a tri-colored bat (Perimyotis subflavus).  This bat has been proposed for endangered species status but failed it's first attempt.  Formerly quite common, as a species it has succumbed to White-Nose Syndrome (a fungus that kills bats during hibernation) in big numbers. Time will tell how this bat fares over the long run.

Tri-colored bat (Perimyotis subflavans) hibernating in Melrose Caverns.