Last week I was surfing through the videos that PBS had to offer. Out of some unconscious decision I clicked on a show from Georgia Public Broadcasting programming called 'Bats!'. The story is a heart breaker. Bats are dying by the thousands. Most of the time while they are in hibernation. There is a fungus attacking and killing these amazing animals. I was informed about this deadly problem when I was living out in Colorado. A friend talked me into going camping at a huge and amazing tract of land called 'Orient Land Trust'. Rather go into detail I'd like to encourage you to look it up online. The week I was there is now near the top of my list of places I'll never forget. When I have a spiritual experience doing or seeing something is when it gets on my list. Orient Land Trust is just one of those sites. There is an iron ore mine that gave up her treasures in amazing quantities starting in about 1880. Hundreds of men worked the mine daily. The mine was a huge network of tunnels. So vast this mine was that often tunnels were breached or not even on maps. And then the day came where the straw broke the camel's back. The mountainside had been so riddled the mine collapsed killing hundreds. Today from the valley floor over twenty miles away you can see the black abyss on the side of the mountain plain as day. But to this deadly story about man attempting to conquer and consume our natural world lies a sweet ending. At least for now. In 1967 the first bats were discovered in the mine. Now over 250,000 migrate from as far away as Brazil each year to the mine. If you are a most fortunate soul like I was that evening you can hike a couple miles up the side of the Sangre de Christo Mountains above the vast San Luis Valley to be witness to a spectacular event. On a very cold June evening (snow fell two mornings later) I stood out of breath, sweating and shaking waiting for one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. As the sun set behind the mountains far to the West the mountain we stood on took a pleasing glow of golds and yellows. The valley floor hundreds of feet below began to turn shades of purple. The sky above had a brilliant blue to it and the few puffy clouds turned pink. That scene along was amazing. With the scenery set the spectacle began. First it was only one, or two, or five. Then with a brief second or so passing it was ten, or fifty, or one hundred. And in no time at all with tears rolling down my face and a goofy smile I became mesmerized and speechless as thousands of the only winged mammals on earth made their way out of the black retreat up into the evening sky. So thick was the mass it looked much like a tornado coming from the depths of the earth. They came so close that you could hear the wing tips touch each time the moved their delicate webbed limbs. As they climbed in a huge swirl the thousands of creatures disappeared into the distance and down into purple blanket the sunset had washed the valley in for the evening's event. By that time it was so cold all of us were huddled together and sharing any extra clothing we may have hiked up with. I don't remember hike down much at all. I know it was dark and I am pretty night blind. I do remember the tears were still flowing, my heart was coming out of my chest in happiness, and the goofy grin was still glued (maybe frozen at that point) to my face. I was in the midst of the glory Nature surrounds us with every day.
I decided to post this story of my amazing experience so that one or more caring individuals might take the time to Google the Orient Mine and watch 'Bats!' on GPB. I thought I knew quite a bit about bats until I saw that show and it made me realize I didn't know much at all about bats or their world. This world is so damned fragile and we are losing it. We are ignorant, clumsy, self absorbed, greedy, and demanding creatures. We rape the earth with everything we do each day. We've lost countless named species of plants and animals already and who knows how many unknown are already gone. The story of the bats and of the deadly fungus needs to be spread so we are all better informed and more conscious of the growing problems we face on the planet.
