After our morning of climbing the trail at South Llano River State Park, My Sweetie and I jumped into our F-150 and headed back west along I-10 to Sonora. We were going spelunking at the Caverns of Sonora! Of course, we weren't going anywhere without our companion for this trip, Biker Bear Chick. As you can see, she is legally buckled up in the back seat, has her extremely expensive sun glasses, and intends to nap the entire trip.
As we weren't hauling our PuP with us, our little truck was racing down the highway at 80 mph and the scenery was zooming by quickly. Our speed run from Junction to the Caverns of Sonora became a blur until just on the western side of Sonora, we felt the gnaw of hunger and voted to stop for a small picnic lunch I had so thoughtfully packed a few days ago.
After munching on a dry sandwich and chips, we found ourselves ready to continue our trip. We only needed to go another mile on the Interstate and just a few miles down Ranch to Market Road 1989 to the turn-off to the privately owned Caverns of Sonora. The road took us to the top of a small hill littered with rocks, mesquites, and beautiful wildflowers.
Top notch and very beautiful caverns, the Caverns of Sonora have allowed public access since 1960. Prior to that, only spelunkers had access to this marvel. In 1966, the caverns became a National Natural Landmark and today is one of the most beautiful caves in the world. The tour guide says this cave is still growing which simply means that water continues to percolate through the cave and continues growing the formations.
The cave is actually a fault occurring in the Segovia limestone of the Edwards Limestone Group. This limestone was formed about 100 million years ago but the caves were probably formed along the fault about 1.5 to 5 million years ago. Once the water completely drained from the caves (about 1 million years ago), the speleothems (the mineral formations) started forming.
This is the second time My Sweetie and I have visited these caverns and they remain our favorite.
Here are just a very few of the hundreds of shots I took during this journey underground.
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