More Caves at Lava Beds NM

 We explored some of the other caves at Lava Beds National Monument.
Entrance to Valentine Cave

 Large pillar near the entrance of Valentine Cave

 Entrance to Skull Cave

 a large chamber cave

 A short walk leads to Symbol Bridge and Big Painted Cave.

 We could see Schonchin Butte in the distance as we hiked to these two caves

 Symbol Bride

some of the pictographs at Symbol Bridge

Back of Symbol Bridge

 Opening to Big Painted Cave

 some of the pictographs at Big Painted Cave

a heart shaped opening on the way out of Big Painted Cave

Cave Loop at Lava Beds NM

 We visited 4 caves along the Cave Loop at Lava Beds National Monument. First, we went into Golden Dome Cave

We did need to stoop in this cave.

 Interesting texture on the roof of the cave

 the golden color is caused by light reflecting of water that bead up on a coating of a hydrophobic bacteria

 The next cave we explored was the Catacombs

 Then we explored Sunshine Cave

 The other cave we explored on the Cave Loop was the Sentinel Cave. We entered through both the Upper and Lower entrances, leaving the area in the cave where we saw bats flying.










Upper Sentinel entrance

 Lower Sentinel entrance