Askon Hollow Cave, Fayette County, Pennsylvania

June 2024

Gate Type: BASIC and SEMI-CUPOLA

I first visited this cave about 40 years ago, wearing cotton long-johns and coveralls. You get soaked, and cold. The gates that were originally placed on this cave were poorly designed and aging poorly. We partnered with the Pennsylvania Game Commission to put on a 3-day mini Bat Gate Workshop for PGC biologists and land management personnel. After a day of classroom work, we reconvened at the mountainside location of the cave. We were plagued by rain and cold temperatures, but we finished both gates in two very long days. It took several more weeks of drying weather before they could recover some of their vehicles. All photos © Jim Kennedy.

State vehicles lined up outside the hotel where we had the classroom portion of our workshop.
The best thing about working in the southwestern Pennsylvania mountains at the beginning of June was enjoying the peak Great Laurel (Rhododendron) bloom.
One of the PGC wildlife techs is cutting out the old upper gate.
Meanwhile, the larger lower gate down in the main entrance was giving us fits.
Our solution for the lower entrance was to build a semi-cupola, giving the bats more flight space.
Work on the lower gate progressed nicely, but required a lot of climbing in and out of the entrance.
There were a few casualties along the way.
The much-improved upper gate was finally completed.
With the completion of the lower gate, we could now start the long, muddy slog back up the mountain, towards home.