Linville Caverns

 We went to Linville Caverns to explore the deep dark cave:).  Though we didn't end up seeing bats but got to see giant spiders up close, a ton of egg sacs, trout, stalactites, and stalagmites. 

 It was cool to be in pitch dark and to spy different 'shapes' in the cave formations (owl, giant green hand, hobbit wedding, etc.)

Braden researched and wrote a paper on Linville Caverns before our trip and was able to tell us all about what we were going to see. (He could have been the tour guide since their info was the same!)

His paper:

     Linville Caverns has a long history.  In the early 1800's a fisherman named Henry E. Colton saw two trout swimming. He followed them to the Linville Caverns opening where it was filled with water and made completely out of limestone.
     Stalactites and stalagmites grow in the cave. When they grow together it forms a rock pillar. Oils from human hands stop them from growing. The temperature of the cave is 52 degrees year round.
     Near the end of the cave is a deep lake called the bottomless lake. Men used a 250 ft cable to measure it's depth and it still didn't touch the bottom. There is a section in the cave called the 'fireplace' that civil war soldiers used as a hiding place. They were able to stay there safely for a year until smoke was discovered coming out of the top of the cave, which led to their capture. The Cavern is deep inside Humpback Mountain.