Thursday, November 14

#1 - 30 Before 30

#1 - Cave Exploration

I have a legit fear of creatures.  I know they're not real, I know nothing will truly get me in the dark, but if you watch as many scary movies as I do - Cave Exploring is definitely not on a 'To Do' list of any kind!  

So what do I plan for our 3 year anniversary??  Yep - we went Cave Exploring.

This was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had.  J had a bit of anxiety (slightly claustrophobic) when I told him what we were doing but we were both really excited to do it.  

We went to the Natural Bridge Caverns just north of San Antonio.  They offer several different tours - walking tours where you're just on a paved walkway with rails and the adventure tours where you have to repel, crawl and climb.  We did the adventure tour; I wanted to go all out!

To get down into the cave we had to go down this well shaft.  They advise if you're larger than 50" around, you can't go down the hole (you'd have to take the stairs which is how the walking tour folks get down).  I'm pretty sure J was wishing he was 51" around :)

J got stuck a few times in the hole and he said it felt like forever until he finally reached the bottom.  I went immediately after him and I remember halfway through yelling down to him and asking why he agreed to do this!  Remember that fear of creatures??  Totally thought I was going to get snatched up while going down.


Once we finally got down there it was so beautiful.  It opens up and is huge!  It amazes me what is right under our feet that we have no idea about.  


The formations were incredible. Our guides were awesome and taught us a lot about what we were seeing.  The formations that hang from the ceiling are called Stalactites and look like icicles while Stalagmites look like they're emerging from the ground and stand up like a traffic cone.  Some can take thousands of years to form while others can grow quite rapidly.  They're formed from from water running over and through inorganic material.  Here's a site that can tell you more of how these are formed.

The deepest we went into the cave was 230 feet.  We stopped at some point too and we all turned off our head lamps.  It was dark.  So dark you didn't even know you were blinking.  That was the scariest part to me.  Once we got to the end and turned around to go back, it was like we were in a whole new cave.  The guides told us that typically when exploring a new cave you need to find an indentifying formation or place a marker somewhere. Because one side to the other will not look the same and nobody wants to get stuck or lost in a cave!


The tour took about 3 hours and was exhausting but worth it.  I was incredibly sore the next day which only means that I may need to hit up the gym soon :)

I definitely recommend doing this once in your life.  It was an experience to remember!

5 comments :

  1. How fun!!! B and I went snorkeling in a cave and repelled into it on our honeymoon in Mexico the craziest experience ever...so scary and cool. I love your 30 before 30 list!

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  2. How fun!!! B and I went snorkeling in a cave and repelled into it on our honeymoon in Mexico the craziest experience ever...so scary and cool. I love your 30 before 30 list!

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    1. Oh I would love to do it in the water like that! That sounds awesome :)

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  3. I don't know if I would be brave enough to lower myself down into a hole. Good for you!

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    1. Ha! For some reason I was more okay with going down the hole then J was. That was a definite role reversal!

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