To The Bat Cave!

     There are 7 Arbraska Parks in Quebec and Eastern Ontario. One day we went to the Laflèche (meaning arrow) park in the Outaouais Region not too far from Gatineau. The big attractions there are a series of ziplines that go across a lake and the bat cave. We were excited to go and explore the cave to see the bats and rock formations. We started our tour with a short lecture on the caves and bats. We then donned our hard hats and lights and entered the cave along with about 8 10-year old boys who were there for a birthday party. They were well behaved and listened to all the instructions so all was good.

We donned on our helmets and lights

ready to enter the "Bat Cave".

We went in with a guide and a group of young boys with 2 parents.

The bats were hanging from the ceiling of the caves

We climbed over uneven rocks and up metal stair cases to get to the 

darkest part of the cave and sat on rocks to listen to the guide. At one point, we 

were told sit on some rocks and turn off all our lights and experience the 

pitch black darkness and silence. One of the boys was not comfortable being in 

the dark and asked for the lights to be turned back on so it was a short time in the dark. I

felt bad for the boy because we were told that if we were uncomfortable to just speak up

and we would all turn on our lights again but there was a pause. Hopefully this boy

was not affected by the delay.

The rock formation in the cave.

Here we are at the exit of the cave.

Exiting the cave after approximately

30 minutes.

    We arrived early to Arbraska LaFlèche, long before our cave tour time so after lunch we went exploring. Besides the bat cave, at this park there are trails and a variety of ziplines over the lake.

This is the view of the lake where we had our lunch.

We could see people criss-cross on the ziplines.

Trees will grow where the condition is right.

Here is a small cedar tree growing out of a dead log in the lake.

Along the bank of the lake we went searching for frogs. There

were quite a number of them. A little boy's dreams just like this 

photo below:

This is one of my favourite photos. I just have to look at

this little naked boy with the big smile and the huge frogs

in his hands and it makes me smile! Just think of this carefree

boy running around trying to catch these frogs. The look on 

his face says to all. Such joy! Although we did not try to catch

any frogs, what we saw they were very interesting.

Just hanging in the water.

Wait, wait don't step here!!!

So convenient to have lily pads to sit on

    This art piece seemed to me to be out of place in this natural setting. A nearby plaque explained the following: "This 2017 sculpture called Stalactite Musicale is a tribute to this unique geological formation shaped over time by water. The Laflèche Cave is represented by three aluminium arches whose exteriors are slightly textured at the bottom to represent the rock of the cave, while the interiors are brushed, illustrating the smoothness of the openings  and corridors, caused by the result of running water. A hollow stalactite, which visitors are invited to ring, reminds us of these geological formations that were created over hundreds of years." 

    We also hiked through the woods up the surrounding hills. It was a nice walk and we saw many things:

We find an old worn out playground. Al took the challenge

and went through the obstacle course.

Fall is coming and the leaves are showing their 

beautiful colours

    Of course, there were many varieties of mushrooms that we walked past so I had to stop and take a photo or two.

    We had a great afternoon at the Arbraska Cave climbing up and down the metal staircases in the cave, sitting silently in the darkness, passing sleeping bats, finding frogs along the shoreline and walking through the forest. It was an outstanding experience.