A Cool Place to See Bats

Have you ever heard of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park? It is a really cool place in Columbia Missouri with caves, sinkholes, a natural bridge made of rock, and other cool things. If you go up a lot of stairs and then go down a lot of stairs, you get to a double sinkhole called The Devil's Icebox (it is very cold down there) with a cave at the bottom.

Well, somebody at church told us that if you go there in the evening, you can see bats flying out. I had never seen bats, except a few at the Silver Dollar City cave, so I was excited to go see them. Mom was not.

Finally, Dad agreed to take us. We left around 7:45. We hiked to the Icebox, and waited around there until it was dark enough for bats to come out, maybe around 8:30.

I kind of had the idea that there would be hundreds of bats flying out at once. That was not what happened, but it was fun anyway. I was actually inside the cave when the bats began flying around, but when there was a lot, Dad figured we'd get out.

We watched from above the cave. Not very many of the bats actually emerged from the cave, and when they did they mostly stayed close, but you could see them flying around inside.

I lost my tiny "buglight" flashlight inside the cave. By then it was too dark to find it. We were worried that we couldn't find our way back to the car, but  it was just light enough to see well enough not to fall. on the stairs.

It was really to see the bats, and if you are in the area you should definitely go see them.