Sonora Caverns - Nov 2005

The Caverns of Sonora are located just west of Sonora, Texas. It is claimed to be one of the most active caves in the world with 90% of the formations still growing. We have been to several other caverns including Carlsbad and Kartchner and were looking forward to our visit of this unique one. The caverns are privately owned and are situated under a large, working cattle ranch. They have an RV park right on the grounds, so that made it very convenient to stop for a couple of nights and enjoy the area.

The campground at the caverns was just ok -- a big dirt lot with about 30 hookups (water and electric only) and no dump station. When we arrived the place was empty, so we had our pick of spots and selected one of two sites that actually had a tree and a picnic table. There were deer and peacocks wandering around and it was very quiet, so I guess it wasn't all bad. We've certainly stayed in some places that weren't much better where we had to listen to nearby trains, freeways and/or noisy neighbors.

On Friday, we took the cavern tour and it was interesting. The cavern was very pretty -- smaller than both Carlsbad and Kartchner and all the formations were on a much smaller scale. However, it was very active (unlike Carlsbad that is now dormant), so we saw many very interesting formations, had lots of cave kisses (drips of water that land on you) and saw several crystal clear pools. The walkway (about 2 miles) connected a series of small chambers. Each chamber had a theme and most of the formations were well lit to appreciate their beauty. The entire cave was actually about 7 miles long, but the rest of the cave wasn't set up for walking tours. That said, touring the rest of the cave was possible, but it involved crawling and climbing and squeezing through tight openings -- not something this claustrophobic girl was willing to do.

Our tour began at one end of the caverns and we descended quite a few flights of stairs before reaching the area where the formations began. (It's hard to see in this photo, but there are 4 people going down a staircase into a chamber of formations.) Once there, we went through lots of very narrow passages where we had to pull in our elbows to keep from brushing up next to the formations on the wall and many times we had to duck to keep from banging into the hanging stalactites.

The cave was warm and very, very humid and since we had to do a lot of stair climbing, we got very sweaty. Also, since the oxygen level was low, we had to stop and catch our breaths whenever climbing a flight of stairs. At the deepest part of the cave, our tour guide turned off all the lights and believe me, I now understand what pitch black is like.

Our young tour guide gave us a humorous running commentary of his experiences giving cave tours in addition to a scientific explanation of the cave's history and formation. One of his funniest stories involved a group of senior citizens -- many in their 80s and and some in their 90s who were moving very slowly through the cave. At one point, he decided it was time to stop and give them a rest. He was at a place where a large fault line was visible and he began explaining about how earthquakes helped to form the cave. Right at that very moment, a huge dynamite explosion went off at a nearby road construction project and it rocked the cave with a massive force -- knocking out the electricity and of course all the lights went out. He couldn't see a thing, but heard gasps and screams and was imagining all his elderly tourists collapsing with heart attacks and strokes. After a few moments, the lights came back on and instead of seeing a mass of passed out bodies on the floor, he was alone in the empty chamber. He said every one of those folks had managed to high-tail it back up the pathway like track stars and were waiting for him at the cave's entry door. Goes to show you what a little burst of adrenaline can do!