Saturday, May 24, 2008

08 Vacation - Day 2 Part II - Caving Cont....

Day 2 Part II - After a very satisfying lunch at Rudy's we went to Natural Bridge caverns in New Braunfels.

The caves were called Natural Bridge because of this rock formation at the entrance. The area where Raquel is standing used to be a cave room that got eroded because of rains and the roof collapsed leaving only the "bridge" as a reminder of what it once was.
These caves were found by 3 college students who asked permission from the owner of the land to explore the sink hole (entrance of the cave). As they were looking around, they felt cool air coming up from between some of the rocks. They moved some of the rocks aside and found a larger room and a network of caves not seen before.
The land owner didn't believe the students and when they asked to go back a second time she sent her son with the group. But, when her son came back she didn't believe him either. So, when the students went back a third time, she sent a few town folks with them to check out the story. Only then did the owner believe she had something truly amazing and she toured the USA for ideas on how to explore, develop and protect the caves. The cave tour went down 18 stories and we walked 3/4 miles of approximately 3 miles of caves. We saw 5 beautiful rooms of "live" caves where formations are still growing. The humidity inside is always between 95-99% and there is water dripping from the ceiling. If you look closely at some of the pictures, you can see water drops caught by the camera's flash.

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