Exploring 200 ft Below San Antonio, Texas: The Natural Bridge Caverns

in #nature7 years ago

When I think of Texas, I think of cowboys, guns, BBQ, "Y'all" and flat out humid HEAT.

However, this past week was my very first time in Texas (unless you count one brief layover I had in Houston 2 years back), and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found just beneath the surface of the good old city of San Antonio:

The Natural Bridge Caverns

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The room where you see my mom and I standing in the photo above was large enough to hold an ENTIRE football field! I know, hard to believe! These caverns just 200 ft below the surface of San Antonio, Texas are astonishing to say the least.

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My family did a guided tour of these caverns, and we had a very informative tour guide who taught us as we explored about the difference between stalagmites, stalactites, and more!


Something that I found very interesting is the reasoning behind why we were advised not to touch anything in the caverns. In my opinion, it's one thing to make a rule, but the rule is much more meaningful if there is an understandable reasoning behind it.

The reason we were told not to touch the contents of the caverns is because the oils of our skin actually overpower the living organisms in the rock/clay/sediment, causing whatever you touch to stop growing and turn black. (Basically, you'll kill it!)

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Now in the photo above, you are looking at history in the making! From my understanding, when stalagmites and stalactites grow so tall that they come together and touch one another, they become a column in a cavern. The significance of this is that this growth process takes a LONG time.

Our tour guide said there is about a millimeter to go before this gap is filled, and they expect it to fill within the next couple months. A fact to put things into perspective is that each of these stalagmites/stalactites grow just one cubic inch per year. That isn't much! Just think about how many years this cavern in particular has been growing to get to where it is today. Mind boggling, really!

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This tour took just over an hour to complete as we walked through the path created throughout the several rooms of this specific cavern. We could have walked through faster, but we stopped to look at lots of things and to take pictures.

The cost to tour these caverns is about $20 for adults and $10 for kids (from my memory).

You do descend about 200 ft and have to climb that back up, so take note of that if you are not in the physical condition to complete this tour. Many of the paths are wet, as the humidity in the caverns is 99%, so safe walking shoes are recommended.

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Something interesting to take note of that both my husband and I noticed on this tour is that the oxygen seemed to be thinner down in these caverns. Especially towards the end of our tour, after we had hikes back up to ground level, there didn't seem to be enough oxygen to take as deep breaths as we would have liked to in the caverns. I'm not entirely sure why that is, but I was happy to take a deep breath of fresh air when we finished our tour!

I would highly recommend stopping by the Natural Bridge Caverns the next time you're near San Antonio, TX.

Sometimes the most amazing views are just beneath the surface.


Best,


@sarahjanele

Follow along for more photography, tips, tricks, travels, and more!

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I love the natural bridge caverns. Have you been to the The Natural Wildlife Ranch drive through? When you are driving up, it's the entrance on the right.

Killer evil bird! it might have been a good thing we didn't go @sarahjanele ;)

I heard their kick can be worse than a horse.

500 - PSI kick
43 - MPH top speed

http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-an-Encounter-with-an-Ostrich

Yeah they are nightmarish when they are agitated. They also taste good.

This video is awesome!!! We were totally considering going to the Natural Wildlife Ranch, but ended up running out of time... Now I wish we had gone! Thanks for the comment, that video is great! :D

It's just one of those things that you do when you are passing through. Hopefully, I see another Texas post soon lol. I'll be following you(on steemit)

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Fun spelunking!

Yes! It was very fun! Not as wild as some other spelunking I've experienced, but definitely enjoyable.

Have you ever heard of the Darby Wind Caves in Idaho? I hiked there with my husband a couple years ago and they have a cave that goes from one side of the mountain to the other! A complete straight shot, causing the cave to be super windy. Now THAT was some fun spelunking! Parts where we had to army crawl because the ceilings were so low and even squeeze through what was nicknamed the "birthing canal" :D

I had no idea these existed, so thank you for this post!

I'm glad you enjoyed the post! I hope you'll be able to check these out sometime! :)

A big warm Steemit Sunday greeting goes out to you SJ! :-D

Upvoted and High Pawed!

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Plus Bonus. :-)

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