July 20, 2005 • Tropical Ecology Institute • NC Museum of Natural Sciences

We started our day at 6:00 am with a bird walk around Warrie Head Lodge. On our walk we spotted a variety of birds, but a fledgling, Yellow-Green Vireo perched on the edge of its nest was a highlight. We also were impressed with a 90 ft Kapok tree shadowing the lodge.

A delicious and hearty breakfast followed our walk which would prove most useful for our upcoming vigorous day. We left on an hour ride to the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Preserve which took us over some BUMPY terrain. Our dirt road became impassable with several fallen trees that had died from the Southern Pine Beetle, which is a native species that attacks only older trees. The condition of the forest reminded us all of Mt. Mitchell which has been devastated by the Balsam Wooly Adelgid, a species from Europe.

We left the van and set out for a lengthy hike to our destination, Domingo Ruiz cave. We all became incredibly excited when we discovered some fresh Baird's Tapir tracks and scats. It looked like our road had become a Tapir trail as the tracks continued for over half a mile. Unfortunately we never met our Tapir.

As we trekked through the Tropical Forest we saw Blue and White Morpho butterflies, a 3 in grasshopper, a scorpion, acacia trees, and 2 ft leaves from wild grape trees.

Once we finally reached Domingo Ruiz we put on our head lamps and entered the cave with a bit of apprehension as well as a great amount of enthusiasm. As we helped each other down the steep incline we reached the floor of the cave finding stalagmites and stalactites. After wandering the cave together we discovered bats, pseudoscorpions, cone nosed bloodsuckers (insects), and fungus gnat larvae. We journeyed to the back of the cave and joined together in a sing-a-long. Afterwards we all discovered what a true "blackout" is, when we all turned off our lights and sat in the pitch black in total silence.

We ventured out of the cave and continued on to Rio Frio Cave. This cave is enormous with a 90 ft opening and a stream running through it. We enjoyed our picnic of meat pies and tropical juices. We ventured through the cave and found the juncture of limestone and granite and stood with one foot on each. The granite is the most recent rock formation in the cave and the limestone is the foundation rock. During our journey we saw several small ponds in the cave and discovered flowing limestone structures as well as a hole that had been made when a rock collapsed and fell through to the river bed.

The next stop on our journey was Rio On Pools where we all enjoyed a refreshing swim. We slid down the rapids and ventured under waterfalls as we all spent time relaxing and recharging. After this we headed back to Warrie Head Lodge where we gathered in our groups, discussed the day's activities, and dined on shrimp Creole, cauliflower casserole, white rice with coconut milk, plantains, and bread pudding.
The day has come to a close as we all collapse and dream about tomorrow's adventures.