Ever since I moved to Texas, I have visited three caverns – Natural Bridge Caverns, Inner Space Cavern and the Caverns of Sonora. For someone, who had never visited caves before I was expecting them all to be the same! But surprisingly, each cavern was mesmerizingly unique and different from the other.
Sonora is a three hour drive from San Antonio. It could sound like a really long drive, considering the Texas heat. But when you reach Sonora and have had time to explore the cave, the drive would definitely be worth every penny.
So it was a hot Sunday afternoon when we reached Sonora. Thankfully, although it was holiday weekend, there were no long queues and we were able to get the tickets in a couple of minutes. Our tour guide was a short, middle aged lady. She seemed to be very passionate about her job and seemed to love the Caverns as her own, and that’s always a good sign, coz you know that when you have a passionate tour guide, the experience would be quite enriching! And enriching it was :)
Sonora is a three hour drive from San Antonio. It could sound like a really long drive, considering the Texas heat. But when you reach Sonora and have had time to explore the cave, the drive would definitely be worth every penny.
So it was a hot Sunday afternoon when we reached Sonora. Thankfully, although it was holiday weekend, there were no long queues and we were able to get the tickets in a couple of minutes. Our tour guide was a short, middle aged lady. She seemed to be very passionate about her job and seemed to love the Caverns as her own, and that’s always a good sign, coz you know that when you have a passionate tour guide, the experience would be quite enriching! And enriching it was :)
I do not know if I can ever put in words the beauty of these caves. Although it was not so fascinating (or so I thought) as I entered the caves, I was in for a surprise!!! This cave was about 150 feet deep and for those who haven’t visited caverns before, don’t worry about the depth, coz there are hand rails and steps that aid in your descent. However, the tiring part is climbing your way up again (wideee grin :D)
As I journeyed to the depths of the cave, surrounded by beautiful limestone and calcite formations, I dreamt of walking through the Great Barrier Reef with its beautiful coral reefs. This cave looked almost like a coral reef, with its beautiful coral like limestone rock formations. Isn’t it ironical that millions of years ago, the ocean waters flowed in and out of these caves, carving and giving rise to awesome formations? These formations are called cave straws, cave bacon (yum yum), cave curtains, pillars, cave butterflies, cave pop corn and so on. You might be wondering what these different names are, they simply are some of the patterns the limestone formations take. What was most spectacular in these caves was the cave butterfly!!! The limestone rocks were so beautifully shaped, that they looked like cute butterflies fluttering their wings. The picture below is of the cave butterflies and as you can see..arent they just awesome ? :)
As I journeyed to the depths of the cave, surrounded by beautiful limestone and calcite formations, I dreamt of walking through the Great Barrier Reef with its beautiful coral reefs. This cave looked almost like a coral reef, with its beautiful coral like limestone rock formations. Isn’t it ironical that millions of years ago, the ocean waters flowed in and out of these caves, carving and giving rise to awesome formations? These formations are called cave straws, cave bacon (yum yum), cave curtains, pillars, cave butterflies, cave pop corn and so on. You might be wondering what these different names are, they simply are some of the patterns the limestone formations take. What was most spectacular in these caves was the cave butterfly!!! The limestone rocks were so beautifully shaped, that they looked like cute butterflies fluttering their wings. The picture below is of the cave butterflies and as you can see..arent they just awesome ? :)
As in all other cave explorations, the tour guides are very strict when they say that visitors are not allowed to touch any of the formations! It might seem strange at first to get such a warning, but the reasoning is justifiable. These formations have taken millions of years to grow, and believe it or not, they still continue to grow! Hence, great measures are taken to protect this natural beauty to preserve it for posterity. Can you believe that the oils present in the human hand can at once stop the formations from growing? Well..it does and that’s the reason visitors are warned not to touch any of the living formations.
During the exploration, we also got to see the formation of ‘Quartz’. Don’t ask me the detailed process of how this gemstone is formed, but it is the resultant of a chemical reaction that takes place in the limestone rocks. I wished that I could have brought back one of these gemstones as a souvenir..but I was an obedient visitor and I refrained from touching any of the formations (a pat on the back for that…lol)
As I walked through the caves, sunk in the beauty that lay around, I was transported to a different world, a world so beautiful, from which I did not want to return, but, as all good things must come to an end, so did my explorations of the caverns of Sonora. But something that I will always cherish from my visits to the different caverns is this – ‘A Thing of Beauty Is a Joy Forever’ :)..and I eagerly look forward to many more such explorations!!!
Excellent!!!
ReplyDeleteGood article on the caves, very informative, exciting to read, especially for someone like me who hasnt experienced anything about caves. Truly you are becoming a "caves" expert. Well done and lets hear more about the caves in other plces in the US.
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