What? No name? Wed, 5/5/21

All you have to do is look around, be open to what's out there, and be willing to get off the beaten path, and you'll discover all kinds of neat or quirky things.  For instance, we're more interested in cool experiences rather than staying at the same-old campgrounds right next to the freeway.  Harvest Hosts is perfect for finding unusual or remarkable places to stay.  We knew we'd be ready to quit driving for the day somewhere near Boerne and the Harvest Hosts site steered us to Cave Without a Name, out in the limestone-karst boonies of Boerne!  Texas hill country.

We parked on level ground near the lofty Cottonwood tree and were quite comfy.  Most HH sites offer no hookups, but with our solar and large water/holding tanks, we're okay without hookups.  After hours, we were the only people in the entire area and it was wonderfully quiet, ideal.  Wildlife, deer and fox, came close.  Our window over the bed was open half the night, till it grew too chilly (46° the next morning). I love sleeping like this.

Who's ever heard of this place?  What kind of name for a cave is Cave Without a Name?  No name a'tall!  It has been designated a National Natural Landmark, regardless of its no-name name.  Fortunately, we got set up in time for the 3 o'clock cave tour.

We entered the cave through a wire gate (no closed system here) and descended 138 steps on a spiral stairwell down the original sinkhole opening.  Jimmy in pink shirt, above, follows Andi, our guide.  One other couple joined our tour.

Sure enough, we looked up and could see daylight!  Zoomed in.

They've mapped three miles of this cave system, but we'd see only a part.  We saw a "scream" face in the above pic!

Stalagmites and stalactites, columns, cave bacon and cave popcorn,

flowstone, soda straws ... this cave had it all.

And BIG chambers!

I received lots of cave "kisses!"

Beautiful decorations, but they're using old lighting (which sucked, IMO), not having switched to LED lights.  We hope they do switch as they're better for the cave.

While there is glare in this photo, you really are seeing white, which indicates new (recent) growth.

The formations in this, the "Queen's Throne Room," were spectacular.

Some areas have pools of water.

Andi occasionally sees a cave cricket.

Looks prehistoric!

At the back of this photo is a dark, small/ish opening.  Experienced cavers can go into and through the caving system here; in fact, that's how they discovered and mapped the three underground miles.

Only one species of tiny bat occupies this cave:  A tri-colored bat.  Looking up on the ceiling, we spotted this one li'l fella today.  

The cave was found by the three kids above in 1938. They entered the sinkhole (with a lantern) and using a rope they found, they explored parts of the cave, by themselves, no grown-up. The youngest, a girl, was only ten at the time.  Wow.  No way would I have had the guts to do that!  I believe the girl is still alive, and in her 90's.

This was a good cave, not the best, not like Postjona Cave in Slovenia, which was superb.  We were happy to have taken the Cave Without a Name tour.

After our nearly-hour-long tour, we wandered around the grounds, finding trails, like the Sinkhole Trail that led us to three or four sinkholes (more potential cave entrances?) and this old rusted truck cab.  The temp was warm, not hot, and the walk was kinda fun.  Once dinner time was over, we relaxed and watched the wildlife.  As I said, being here was soothing to the soul.

 

We have one more HH site in mind for tomorrow night.  Then, it's pedal to the medal, Mable, let's head for the barn.  Time to go home.