Weathered Woods: Appalachian Caverns

We went to the Appalachians Caverns. A long time ago, soldiers from the Civil War would hide in the cave. They would use it for a hospital for the men who got hurt. During the Stone Age, people who had heart burn would come to the cave and lick the walls to get the calcium carbonate. We even saw a fossil of a catfish on the wall. It came along time ago when the water was up to the top. This cave has more than 25,000 bats hibernating in it. People use bat poop to put in a lot of things: gun powder, Doritos, makeup, and other things. A couple of my favorite things in the cave were formations that looked like Mary and Joseph, Santa Claus, and a rabbit. There was a big rock on the ceiling. The water keeps on pushing it down. It could fall in any second, or any year. There are cracks in other parts of the ceiling, so the other rocks might fall with it.
By McKenna

What I liked about Appalachian Caverns is that soldiers used to go there to get healed. Our guide showed us a big room that soldiers stayed in. In another huge room, there was a stream and a opening in the wall that showed sunlight on the water. It looked beautiful. There were fish in the river, and somebody joked and said they wanted to fish here. The fish that have gotten stuck in the cave have become blind because they don't need their sight anymore. The first room in the cave used to be filled with junk people would just throw in there. They found shopping carts, a car, and all types of trash. The cave workers had to clean all of the junk out to get to the opening of the cave. When we walked in the cave, our guide said that old people who came said "Goodnight, I feel like I'm ten years younger." The guide said this was because there was more oxygen in the cave than on the surface. This extra oxygen comes from the water. He called this the Passage of Time. There were formations that were on the ground and others on the ceiling. I couldn't remember the names, but my mom just reminded me that they are called stalagmites (the one's growing up from the ground) and stalagtites (one's hanging from the ceiling). When they touch, it is called a column.
By Keegan

The cave has small bats that were sleeping when we went there. They have small little wings. Vampire Bats live in a different country so we didn't see those. They have big wings. There was a flood at the cave a long time ago. Indians still come to the cave and have meetings there.
By Braden

In the above picture, there is a bat sleeping on the ceiling. We didn't get to go into the chamber with the 25,000 sleeping bats because if they were woken they would die.