Bat Caves

So I'm a little ashamed to admit I've lived in Whatcom County for 33 years and have never gone to the bat caves on Blanchard Mountain. In fact I don't think I've done any hiking on Blanchard or it's sister Chuckanut Mountain. So Jamie and I decided to load the boys up and head out for a day hike. We picked up Megan and Mariah to go with us, since they are staying with us (along with Morgan)starting tonight for the next week while the rest of the Perrys are at at Tuba City, Arizona on the youth group mission trip.

Everyone did pretty well on the 3 mile hike up to the caves. Colton insisted on wearing his Shaun Alexander jersey and was complaining about half way up that he had nothing to wipe the sweat off his face. Christopher, the kind brother he is, let Colton carry his sweatshirt the rest of the way and use it as a mop.

The bat caves were formed by a jumble of house sized boulders that have created a huge talus slope below the Oyster Dome rock wall. There were about 6 spelunkers climbing through the caves when we arrived. We made our way through a couple of the caves, but if we go again we'll have to bring better equipment for exploring. Right before we left Kobe finally spotted a couple bats. Supposedly the Townsend's Big-Eared bats that inhabit the caves are fairly rare. The boys were a bit disappointed we couldn't take them home with us.

There is a great view of the San Juan Islands as you gain elevation.


Resting along the trail

Some cool roots on the way up.

Everyone in one of the caves.


The Oyster Dome in the back ground. This picture gives you a good idea of the size of some of the rocks that have come off the dome.

Here's the only two bats we actually saw. You can see a small brown faced bat looking at you in the middle of the crevis. There's another black bat that's out of focus near the bottom of the picture.