Austin Cave Day – April 2012

“Austin Cave Day?” I said.  “What the hell is that?”

I was told there was something that happens twice a year where it was an exhibition of the caves near Austin.  Well, I’d been to all the commercial caves in the area, so it made me wonder if there was something I’d missed.  Turns out there was.  Other caves that I hadn’t explored could be found here, and I hadn’t heard about them because they hadn’t been advertised.  These weren’t commercial caves where just anyone could go, but specific sites with limited access.

Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I was able to locate the where and when, and looked forward to another Saturday morning of cave exploring.  I knew because Austin was situated over a fault line (Balcones Fault) where two plates meet created a large number of caves in the area.  What I didn’t know there was a Cave Conservancy that oversaw many of the non-commercial caves.  While many of these caves don’t amount to more than a basic hole in the ground that would take five minutes to see all there was there, the Cave Conservancy maintained gates around the caves to keep people from wandering into them.

The Cave Conservancy also studies the caves to note how they were formed, and if there’s any potentially they might link up to already known locations, or open to brand new unexplored areas.  Sounds like another field trip for Cara waiting to happen here.  I’m not the caver that she is, but it’s still fun to see what’s there.  More importantly, it was another opportunity for me to learn about the area I live in.

DIE’S RANCH TREASURE CAVE

I live in Round Rock, which is northeast of Austin.  Normally that’s not relevant to the travel journals, but this time it was.  According to the website, the Die’s Ranch Treasure Cave was an actual “underground” cave you could go into, while one of the other areas as a cave which formerly had been an Indian shelter.  The “underground” cave sounded more appealing to me.  Since these were over in Cedar Park (which is northwest of Austin), I figured out what time they were going to start letting people in, and got there early.  I thought there’d be a line waiting.  And if I hit it early enough, I could be back in time for my writer’s meeting that day.

Once I had the directions from MapQuest, I navigated through a neighborhood filled with some McMansions, and found the cul-de-sac with the trail that’d lead me to the morning’s fun.  Die’s Ranch Treasure Cave, as well as some of the more “hole in the ground” caves in the area, have been used by local firemen for vertical rope training.  There’s also been some excavation around the area in hopes to find the gold that Sam Bass might’ve hid when he was fleeing from the law back in the late 1870’s.  That’s part of the reason why this cave was named what it was.

The trail goes into an access way behind the neighborhood (which also serves as a fitness trail), and brings you a fenced-off area, with a short path beyond it.  A small throng of residents had also arrived by this time, no doubt to see what existed behind this gated section of their community.  Our guide, Mike, then came by to open the gate.  We followed him down the path, which lead to a small depression with some railings around, and boards over it.  Hmm, so this would be a cave I’d get to climb into, as opposed to walking into.

I understood the boards were in place to keep kids and other critters from falling.  A hinged section was pulled up, and Mike went down ahead of us.  Once he called us to do so, we descended single-file on to a small catwalk.  From the edge of the catwalk, we could see him standing in a section about twenty feet below the catwalk.

There was a ladder which took us down about half-way, and then we had to navigate slippery dirt-covered rocks the rest of the way down.  I’d come prepared wearing my hiking boots, but most of the others had one their flip-flops.  A few people had sneakers, so they had an easier time than those who didn’t have proper footwear.  Beyond the main entrance way was … not much.  There were some small sections that went a little lower, but they were more additional portions of the main chamber than a separate area.

Once I’d seen all there was to see here, I worked my way back up to the catwalk, and out of the hole.  I went over to the pavilion where other Cave Conservancy people were hanging out with information about their organization.  They asked if I was going to make my way over to the other cave.  I mentioned I preferred the more “underground” areas to the above ground areas.  They said there was another underground area open today, although the way it was worded on the website made that unclear.  Really, another?  Point me in the right direction, please.

AVERY RANCH PRESERVE

The other cave which was open today (that I’d find interesting) was located over off Avery Ranch Blvd, which was about half-way between Cedar Park and Round Rock.  I’d driven past the Avery Ranch development a number of times, and never realized there was a cave back there.  Well, I guess that’s part of what Cave Day was all about.

I followed the directions, found a parking space, and trucked over to the gated area where the cave was.  I saw quite a line had formed down the sidewalk.  It’d be a longer wait to get this one, so I hoped it would be more impressive than Die’s Ranch.

The background of the discovery of this cave is similar to that of Inner Space (in Georgetown).  The Avery Ranch development is only about a decade old, as it’d previously been fields or other wild areas.  When the water and sewer lines were being added, soundings of the area detected a hollow section.  As the surveyors hadn’t reported find any cave openings, the developers knew they had something potentially very interesting here.  Finding what was the narrowest point of this small hollow section, an entrance was dug which came upon this cave.  Once explored, the entrance was reconfigured into something which could be sealed off to protect the cave’s interior.  Amy, from the Cave Conservatory, was the source off this information.  She had the job today of watching the entrance to help people in and out.

After going down a short ladder, I was in an artificial passageway that went a short distance before opening up to the main (and really only) chamber.  The developers had been smart enough to put down some metal grating for visitors to stand on, and railings to keep them from climbing on the formations.  I say formations because this was a small scale version of InnerSpace, complete with stalactites, stalagmites, “cave bacon,” and water dripping here and there.

The cave only really had one main section.  Amy had noted that some parts went a little further back, but they were so small they were more fissures than actual cave portions.  Still, this was a nice surprise, and worth the wait to get in.  Okay, so I ended up missing my writer’s meeting today, but this was certainly worth it.  Like the commercial caves I’d been in, there were some formations which looked like the rock was liquid or like melting icicles.

When you realize that all these bubble-looking shapes have been created and smoothed by continuous drips of water of thousands of years, it is really amazing.  It was because of this the cave is sealed off all but two days a year.  Other than those visitors that come in, there is no contamination of the rocks by animals (so this was never a place where a bat colony lived).  As people were being let in the cave on more of an honour system, it’d been strongly suggested to them not to touch anything.  I didn’t see anyone try to do that when I was there, but I’m sure some had to reach out to feel the rocks.

The chamber was a pretty decent size, and the ceiling was pretty high.  You know there’s always someone who’s afraid the roof was going to collapse on them.  I’m not talking about the claustrophobic people who have a genuine fear, but the clueless masses who don’t realize that if this cave was so unstable it would’ve fallen in a long time ago (and if there was any danger of that happening, people wouldn’t be allowed in to visit).

I didn’t make any square footage measurements, but just eyeballed everything.  This was probably about the size of a two or three-car garage, or that of a standard-sized starter home.  Pretty roomy as far as I was concerned.  I’d be happy to live here, one I had power and running water.

When I’m in caves or other natural places, I usually try to get a picture of the subject matter with something which can be used to as a size reference.  Like I’ve done with other shots, I made sure to catch a random person’s head in one of the pictures so you could see how high the ceiling was.

Because the cave had limited space, someone could only enter once someone had left.  While I could’ve spent all day down here to enjoy the cool weather, I had to be a good visitor and allow other’s their opportunity.  Once I came out of the cave, I did get some info on the Texas Cave Conservancy from Amy, and investigated if their meetings were something I could fit into my schedule.

Texas Cave Conservancy has their own FaceBook page, and more information about the next Cave Day can be found as their website (http://www.texascaves.org/cave_day.html).  It ended up being a good way to spend my morning, as I learned more things about the area where I lived.

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