Church Mountain Cave, Rockingham County, Virginia

August 2019

Gate style: BASIC

This cave is on the George Washington-Jefferson National Forests and is a critical hibernaculum for Virginia bats that have been hard hit by WNS. The steep slope to the entrance necessitated a highline to haul all the gear and materials. And then there was this rock in the way that we had to work around… All photos © Jim Kennedy.

A quick view of our highline setup.
Vonny, Mark, and Tom lay out the skirting, sill, and initial bar.
Lydia puts the finishing touches on the right side of the gate.
Using that darn rock for support as we drill in another anchor pin.
The view from inside shows that there really is more available flight space that it would appear from the outside.