Cascade Caverns
Boerne, Texas

When most people think of the Hill Country of central Texas, they imagine winding roads, tough cedar and oak trees rooted in the rocky soil, a climate that is warm most of the year and especially, the many steep hills that give the area its name.

But a whole other world exists here as well – one that’s not apparent on the surface. You have to take a step below, to the place where rainwater has created dark, cool cavern passages under the rugged landscape. Since this area of Texas is composed largely of porous limestone, nature has built a cobweb of more than 3,000 caverns through the state. All of the caves have been formed by individual water droplets that have seeped below the surface and have carved out rooms over the course of hundred of years. This process has opened up a world that offers as many beauties as the land above it.

One of the most fascinating caverns in central Texas is Cascade Caverns, which is located outside of the small town of Boerne (about 14 miles west of San Antonio). The rooms in the cavern hold wonders for the youngest and oldest visitors, who will find the paths wide and easy to follow. The cave holds the distinction of being one of the few privately owned caverns in the country. It has been owned and operated by John and Gladys Bridges since 1965, the year that the energetic couple retired from a business in San Antonio and settled in the scenic Hill Country. Seemingly younger than their years, the couple works daily at every job in the cave.

Visitors to the cave can enjoy a short movie in the amphitheater, a film that self-taught naturalist John Bridges also uses when he tours local schools. “Caves are like women.” He says with a twinkle in his eye. “No two are alike.”

Indeed they are not. While many caves share the same basic formations, each has its own special beauty and its own unique history. Cascade Caverns has been open to the public since 1932, but its history goes back much further. One of the cave’s first residents was a mastodon that lived some 50,000 years ago. Bones of the enormous animal remain in the cave today, embedded in the floor.

Later, Native American tribes held ceremonies in the first room of the cave, afraid to venture beyond the reassuring sunlight that streamed in through the natural entrance. Visitors can still see evidence of the Indians’ fires, which vented through a crack in the ceiling.

One of the cave’s most interesting residents inspired a local legend. The story tells of a young German immigrant who fled to America, mistakenly believing that he had killed a man in a fight. Lovesick for the sweetheart who he had left behind, the fugitive took to the cave, living out his life as a hermit in the cave’s first chamber. Books titled Hermit of the Caves and A Wasted Life recount the tragic tale.

Many caves around the country are the daytime homes of colonies of bats. Fortunately, these creatures are kept out of Cascade Caverns by a large steel door at the entrance. Actually, little life exists down in the cave. A lone fern grows from one of the cave walls, somehow washed in by heavy rains. Tiny salamanders swim in the shallow pools that line the cave walkways. This is a far cry from the description given of the cave in 1932 by Frank Nicholson, explorer of world-famous Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. At that time, Nicholson made Cascade Caverns popular with his exaggerated tales of blind fish, white bats and a mile-long underground lake.

All of these explorers, as well as the Indians and the hermit, used an old cave entrance, which you’ll see as you begin your tour. It’s a narrow chute, almost a straight drop down between limestone boulders. Today it’s used only by firefighters and other rescue personnel for practice sessions.

You’ll walk several hundred feet before easing down the steps to the present day cave entrance. Once inside, you’ll notice a sudden temperature drop. Year around the cave remains at 68 degrees, a welcome relief on hot Texas days!

Aside from the archaeological attractions, you’ll be thrilled by the cave formations that line the rooms. What nature destroys, she also rebuilds. As rainwater carved out rooms in the limestone, it also rebuilt the rooms, filling them with varied formations. Every drop of water that has seeped into the cavern for hundreds of years has left behind a tiny mineral deposit. These deposits have formed stalactites, stalagmites, delicate travertine dams, and fragile “soda straws.” Even today, the cave is 95 percent active – growing and slowly changing. Visitors are warned not to touch the formations, as the oil in your skin can cause the stalactite or stalagmite to become clogged and die.

Cave formations are everywhere – hanging from the ceiling or rising from the floor and walls. Each of the rooms inside Cascade has its own unique examples. The tobacco room is so named because of the wavy stalactites that hang like drying tobacco leaves from the ceiling. The diamond ceiling is, as its name suggests, formed by a wealth of tiny stalactites, each with a gem-like water droplet clinging to its tip ready to fall on an unwary visitor.

As when looking at a cloud-filled sky, a visit to a cave invites you to use your imagination. Earlier visitors have seen “the dinosaur,” a rock that resembles the head of a prehistoric animal; “the skull,” which is lifelike enough to be frightening; and “the molar,” a huge stalactite that looks as if it might be the source of a giant’s toothache.

But the best surprise is saved for the last. At the end of the 45-minute tour is the waterfall room, where the roar of a 90-foot fall echoes against the limestone walls. This is the largest of the cave’s rooms, and, of course, is the inspiration for its name this room also allows you to see just how large Cascade Caverns really is. In the middle of the blue-green pool formed at the bottom of the waterfall is large concrete conduit. This pipe forms the entrance to a lower, flooded chamber of the cavern that is closed to the public. In the past, tour guides have taken groups of divers into this underwater cavern.

After you enjoy the beauties of Cascade Caverns, other delights of the Hill Country are waiting to greet you in an RV campground also run by the Bridges. One hundred sites are avail, able, with water and sewer hookups, showers, and rest rooms on hand. A store, a playground, nature trails, and a swimming pool are also located at the campground. Wildlife abounds in the area; particularly white-tail deer, which roam the 105-acre, oak covered campground.

For More Information:

• visit www.cascadecaverns.com

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