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

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.

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!

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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!)

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!

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.

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.

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Best,

@sarahjanele

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