phyzik
08-21-2010, 02:27 AM
Pictures at the bottom.... Read the story though first.
OK, first of all.... I will be the first to admit.... We where ignorant and uninformed. Me and my friend are submitting our applications to the TCMA (Texas Cave Management Association) as volunteers and the cave system we went into is not a protected area.
http://www.tcmacaves.org/
What we did, while with alot of excitement and a little bit of good intentions, is not recommended..... not technically illegal regarding the cave we entered, it was a bad idea with the info we have now. We where not stopped by anyone.... We did not get a citation.... We looked it up on our own and educated ourselves after the fact..... We should have done so before hand, but in our haste and excitement, we just didnt think. I'll own up to it.
So, I like the show "cities of the underworld" and thought about what San Antonio might have?
This lead me to an article from the San Antonio Current: http://www.sacurrent.com/printStory.asp?id=69731
It talks about a very rare book called Caves of Bexar County . I managed to find and look at it. I was only able to look at this book at its location.
My interest was piqued by robber Baron Cave.... http://www.tcmacaves.org/robberbaron/
Alot of San Anotnio residents dont even realize this cave is very close to downtown. The entrance is blocked off by a gate so it wont hurt to tell you where its at... Its of of Nacogdoches and Cave Ln. It's accessable to anyone if you want to check it out. Its a huge sink hole and the cave system was a large tourist attraction back from 1926 to 1933 and an estimated 300,000 people toured the cave during that time. It's closed off now because there is an endangered species of spider that is only found in this cave in the entire world. It can be accessed through the proper channels and I hope to eventually get that access but no one else can get in.
My interest grew. As did my friends.
In the article they mention a book called Caves of Bexar County Written by George Veni. In that article, they mention two caves called Bear cave and Cub cave. Bear cave is blocked off now after a caver got trapped down there.
Now, I used to work in the area around where these caves are located and was told about it by various co-workers over the years I worked there. Its now a fully established park and there is full access to the entrance of the Cub cave.... in fact, there are no inhibiting signs that say not to enter it.... there are no fences prohibiting access.... nothing.
The thing is, people dont realize that when they reach it, they dont realize that its a really deep cave.... It looks nothing more than rock providing a large ammount of shade. In fact, if you walk down into the cleft, there is a "hidden" entrance that lets you get to the REAL cave system.
We learned this is a possible Karst cave, which may feed into the Aquifer, so we took some trashbags to pick up any trash we found. This was our "excuse" to go down into it. We didnt take any possible trash with us. We ended up taking 4 trashbags full of junk with us when we left. It was crazy how much trash was down there and we only went about 1000 feet down in this particular cave and didnt deviate from the main tunnel.
I dont suggest visiting this cave unless you are really fit. You will need to be able to lift your own body weight and hold it with your finger tips for seconds at a time while you find footholds.
Anyway, we will not be entering any caves until we get our membership to the TCMA and will only go when they sanction them.
Here are some pictures from our misguided adventure.
This is what most people see when they take the trail to Cub cave. there are no fences or signs warding anyone from going down.
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/3346/dsc00297g.jpg
This is about 10 feet into the "hidden" entrance into the lower tunnels.
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/3986/dsc00299d.jpg
Here is a picture of the first piece of trash we picked up. I think it was a Bud Light beer can.
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/866/dsc00300lw.jpg
About a 10' drop we had to climb down.... If you look in the bottom right corner of the hole, you will see the top of my friends head.... He is 6'1"
http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/6272/dsc00308f.jpg
A definate party spot. Notice the wood beams and the beer can over to the left. Around the corner of the rock on the right, there was a HUGE pile of beer cans we picked up. I was standing on top of a fire pit that was apprently made by the people that partied here.
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/1746/dsc00311e.jpg
This was a tight fit.... I had to put the camera away at this point so I could use both my hands. It drops down about another 10-15 feet at that point and gets pretty technical. After going down and picking up a large ammount of trash, we decided to head back up.
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/7797/dsc00316o.jpg
Bottom line, what we did was stupid, and I'm not talking about our safety...
I'm talking about the sensitive role these caves play in regards to our society. I know that now. My main point is that there are TONS of these caves in and around San Antonio. In fact, after some research, I know the approximate location of the TMI caves listed in the article.
We wont be accessing these caves until we get accepted into the TCMA and even then wont do so until there is an event scheduled.
OK, first of all.... I will be the first to admit.... We where ignorant and uninformed. Me and my friend are submitting our applications to the TCMA (Texas Cave Management Association) as volunteers and the cave system we went into is not a protected area.
http://www.tcmacaves.org/
What we did, while with alot of excitement and a little bit of good intentions, is not recommended..... not technically illegal regarding the cave we entered, it was a bad idea with the info we have now. We where not stopped by anyone.... We did not get a citation.... We looked it up on our own and educated ourselves after the fact..... We should have done so before hand, but in our haste and excitement, we just didnt think. I'll own up to it.
So, I like the show "cities of the underworld" and thought about what San Antonio might have?
This lead me to an article from the San Antonio Current: http://www.sacurrent.com/printStory.asp?id=69731
It talks about a very rare book called Caves of Bexar County . I managed to find and look at it. I was only able to look at this book at its location.
My interest was piqued by robber Baron Cave.... http://www.tcmacaves.org/robberbaron/
Alot of San Anotnio residents dont even realize this cave is very close to downtown. The entrance is blocked off by a gate so it wont hurt to tell you where its at... Its of of Nacogdoches and Cave Ln. It's accessable to anyone if you want to check it out. Its a huge sink hole and the cave system was a large tourist attraction back from 1926 to 1933 and an estimated 300,000 people toured the cave during that time. It's closed off now because there is an endangered species of spider that is only found in this cave in the entire world. It can be accessed through the proper channels and I hope to eventually get that access but no one else can get in.
My interest grew. As did my friends.
In the article they mention a book called Caves of Bexar County Written by George Veni. In that article, they mention two caves called Bear cave and Cub cave. Bear cave is blocked off now after a caver got trapped down there.
Now, I used to work in the area around where these caves are located and was told about it by various co-workers over the years I worked there. Its now a fully established park and there is full access to the entrance of the Cub cave.... in fact, there are no inhibiting signs that say not to enter it.... there are no fences prohibiting access.... nothing.
The thing is, people dont realize that when they reach it, they dont realize that its a really deep cave.... It looks nothing more than rock providing a large ammount of shade. In fact, if you walk down into the cleft, there is a "hidden" entrance that lets you get to the REAL cave system.
We learned this is a possible Karst cave, which may feed into the Aquifer, so we took some trashbags to pick up any trash we found. This was our "excuse" to go down into it. We didnt take any possible trash with us. We ended up taking 4 trashbags full of junk with us when we left. It was crazy how much trash was down there and we only went about 1000 feet down in this particular cave and didnt deviate from the main tunnel.
I dont suggest visiting this cave unless you are really fit. You will need to be able to lift your own body weight and hold it with your finger tips for seconds at a time while you find footholds.
Anyway, we will not be entering any caves until we get our membership to the TCMA and will only go when they sanction them.
Here are some pictures from our misguided adventure.
This is what most people see when they take the trail to Cub cave. there are no fences or signs warding anyone from going down.
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/3346/dsc00297g.jpg
This is about 10 feet into the "hidden" entrance into the lower tunnels.
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/3986/dsc00299d.jpg
Here is a picture of the first piece of trash we picked up. I think it was a Bud Light beer can.
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/866/dsc00300lw.jpg
About a 10' drop we had to climb down.... If you look in the bottom right corner of the hole, you will see the top of my friends head.... He is 6'1"
http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/6272/dsc00308f.jpg
A definate party spot. Notice the wood beams and the beer can over to the left. Around the corner of the rock on the right, there was a HUGE pile of beer cans we picked up. I was standing on top of a fire pit that was apprently made by the people that partied here.
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/1746/dsc00311e.jpg
This was a tight fit.... I had to put the camera away at this point so I could use both my hands. It drops down about another 10-15 feet at that point and gets pretty technical. After going down and picking up a large ammount of trash, we decided to head back up.
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/7797/dsc00316o.jpg
Bottom line, what we did was stupid, and I'm not talking about our safety...
I'm talking about the sensitive role these caves play in regards to our society. I know that now. My main point is that there are TONS of these caves in and around San Antonio. In fact, after some research, I know the approximate location of the TMI caves listed in the article.
We wont be accessing these caves until we get accepted into the TCMA and even then wont do so until there is an event scheduled.