Skylight Cave | |
---|---|
Location | Deschutes County, Oregon |
Coordinates | 44°20′55″N121°42′57″W / 44.34861°N 121.71583°W |
Length | 1017 feet (map length) [1] |
Entrances | 1 |
Difficulty | Easy |
Access | May 1st thru September 14th [2] |
Skylight Cave is a lava tube within Deschutes County, Oregon, in the United States. The cave is within Deschutes National Forest and is located east of Belknap Crater about nine miles northwest of the city of Sisters. Skylight Cave is closed to visitation from September 15 to April 30 because of hibernating Townsend's big-eared bats. [2] [3]
The cave is entered via a steel ladder through a collapsed roof section. [4] The most notable features of the cave are its three hornito skylights in the eastern passage, for which the cave is named. [5] During the cave's formation, it may have had more hornitos suggested by the many small cupolas along its passage. The entrance may have been a hornito that collapsed. [5] The eastern passage has mostly original morphology, but the western passage is filled with sand and clay and some piles of breakdown. [5] The western passage is longer and more difficult to navigate. [3]
Skylight Cave is closed to visitation from September 15 to April 30 because of hibernating Townsend's big-eared bats. [2] [3] Many years worth of rotted ladders were once strewn around the entrance floor. [5]
Lava Beds National Monument is located in northeastern California, in Siskiyou and Modoc counties. The monument lies on the northeastern flank of Medicine Lake Volcano and has the largest total area covered by a volcano in the Cascade Range.
The gray bat is a species of microbat endemic to North America. It once flourished in caves all over the southeastern United States, but due to human disturbance, gray bat populations declined severely during the early and mid portion of the 20th century. 95% of gray bats now hibernate in only 15 caves. M. grisescens has been listed as federally endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1976, and is protected under the Endangered Species Act. Gray bat populations were estimated at approximately 2 million bats around the time they were placed on the Endangered Species list. By the early 1980s populations of gray bats dropped to 1.6 million. With conservation efforts in place, in 2004, gray bat populations were estimated to have reached 3.4 million.
Hubbard's Cave is a cave and 50-acre (0.2 km²) natural area located 10 miles (16 km) southeast of McMinnville in Warren County, Tennessee. It is owned by the Tennessee chapter of The Nature Conservancy.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is an American national park in the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico. The primary attraction of the park is the show cave Carlsbad Cavern. Visitors to the cave can hike in on their own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center.
Harmanecká Cave or Harmanec Cave is a stalactite cave in Central Slovakia. It is located on the northern side of the Kotolnica massif in the Staré Hory and Kremnica mountain ranges and south of the Veľká Fatra mountains. The closest villages are Harmanec and Dolný Harmanec; Banská Bystrica is around 16 km south east of the cave. It is formed from Middle Triassic dark-grey Gutenstein limestone with an estimated age of 220 million years. The entrance to the cave is situated at an altitude of 821 m and 260 m above the bottom of the Harmanec valley.
Germany Valley is a scenic upland valley high in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia originally settled by German farmers in the mid-18th century. It is today a part of the Spruce Knob–Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area of the Monongahela National Forest, although much ownership of the Valley remains in private hands.
Hellhole is a large and deep pit cave in Germany Valley of eastern West Virginia. It is the seventh longest cave in the United States and is home to almost half of the world's population of Virginia big-eared bats. At 737 feet (225 m), Hellhole is the deepest of several caves in the Valley.
Townsend's big-eared bat is a species of vesper bat.
The Virginia big-eared bat is one of two endangered subspecies of the Townsend's big-eared bat. It is found in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. In 1979, the US Fish and Wildlife Service categorized this as an endangered species. There are about 20,000 left and most of them can be found in West Virginia. The Virginia big-eared bat is the state bat of Virginia.
The Ozark big-eared bat is an endangered species found only in a small number of caves in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, the southern central United States. Also known as the western big-eared bat, the long-eared bat, and the lump-nosed bat, its appearance is defined by a pair of outsize ears and a lump-adorned nose. The Ozark big-eared bat is the largest and reddest of the five subspecies of Corynorhinus townsendii and is medium-sized and weighs from 0.2 to 0.5 ounces. It has very large, 1-inch-long ears that connect at the base across the forehead. The snout has large, prominent lumps above the nostrils. These particular bats feed on moths and other insects; they forage along forest edges.
The Horse Lava Tube System is a series of lava tubes within Deschutes County, Oregon, of the United States. The system starts within the Deschutes National Forest on the northern flank of Newberry Volcano and heads north into and near the city of Bend. The system continues north to Redmond and includes the Redmond Caves. The flow diverts into the Redmond Dry Canyon, where the last known segment is known to exist; however, the basalt flow that created the system goes beyond to Crooked River Ranch and terminates just short of the Crooked River Gorge. The lava flow that created the Horse system is also referred to as the Horse Cave lobe and it filled the ancient channel of the Deschutes River which at that time flowed around the east side of Pilot Butte. The Horse Cave lobe is a part of the basalt of Lava Top Butte which also consists of the Arnold Lava Tube System, the Badlands rootless shield, and the Lava Top butte basalt. All have a geologic age around 80,000 years old.
The Arnold Lava Tube System is series of lava tubes in Deschutes County, Oregon, in the United States. It is located several miles southeast of the city of Bend. The system starts in the Deschutes National Forest on the northern flank of Newberry Volcano, heads northeast onto BLM land before finally terminating on private property near Horse Ridge. The system acted as a conduit for the lavas from Lava Top Butte that later fed the Badlands rootless shield. The lava flow that created the Arnold system is also referred to as the basalt of Lava Top Butte and is related to the Horse Cave lobe which is a lava flow that created the Horse Lava Tube System. The lava flows of Lava Top Butte, the Badlands, the Horse system, and the Arnold system all have a geologic age around 80,000 years old.
The Oregon High Desert Grotto is an American caving club, known as a Grotto. It is affiliated with the National Speleological Society.
The Redmond Caves are a group of six lava tubes in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. The caves are located in the city of Redmond and are jointly managed by the city and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Five of the caves are in the Redmond Caves Park and have been known locally for over 100 years. The caves are part of the Horse Lava Tube System and the farthest northern extent of the system. The lava flow that created both the Horse system and the Redmond Caves continued into the Redmond Dry Canyon and terminated near Crooked River Ranch. The caves have a geologic age of about 80,000 years.
Skeleton Cave is a lava tube within Deschutes County, Oregon, of the United States. The cave is within Deschutes National Forest and is located on the northern flank of Newberry Volcano near the city of Bend. The cave is between 75,000 and 400,000 years old.
Old Bow And Old Ham Mines is a 40.3-hectare (100-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1998.
There are eighteen indigenous species of bats in Canada, which are found in many parts of the country. They are insectivores, and are prey to falcons, hawks, owls, snakes, cats, and raccoons.
Derrick Cave is a lava tube located in the remote northwest corner of Lake County, Oregon. The cave is approximately 1,200 feet (370 m) long. It is up to 80 feet (24 m) wide and 46 feet (14 m) high in places. It was named in honor of H.E. Derrick, a pioneer rancher with a homestead 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of the cave. The land around the cave is managed by the United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management. Derrick Cave is open to the public year-round; however, camping is no longer permitted in the cave.
Boyd Cave is a lava tube within Deschutes County, Oregon, of the United States. The cave is within Deschutes National Forest and is located on the northern flank of Newberry Volcano near the city of Bend.