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a little smaller plz
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.
This is about 10 feet into the "hidden" entrance into the lower tunnels.
Here is a picture of the first piece of trash we picked up. I think it was a Bud Light beer can.
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"
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.
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.
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.
Last edited by phyzik; 08-21-2010 at 03:12 AM.
a little smaller plz
My Brother and I used to go into that cave all the time when we were younger, before it was fenced in, this particular cave was rumored to have lead to the Alamo....
it would be bad ass if someone attached a camera to one of those RC helos to see if it did.
Mike, it doesn't.
I've been in Robbers cave, in the 70's.
Not just caves but underground tunnels and such. Lots of stuff underneath the city
I'm pretty sure my house sits over a cave. When I first bought the house (built around 1900) the sewer line from the house went out in the front yard and then turned down into a small crevice in the rocks. No septic tank or anything. The sewer would work fine when it was dry but when we really got a lot of rain it would back up. I fixed it, obviously, but casually considered doing some exploratory drilling to see how big the cave was. Then again, I wasn't sure what I would do with a cave full of 75 years of if I found it...
Dollar to a donut that a guy and sex was involved...
I found the key...to one-eyed Willie!
No smart ass, it was several guys, one other chick, and lots of reefer!!!Dollar to a donut that a guy and sex was involved...
That's two drinks you owe me!!!
Road trip..stone bull time!
Yep, off the meds might as well!!!
I had a feeling it didn't, I just want to see how far it does go.
limestone does that
knowing this place, I thought you all where gonna go all PC on me and give me for doing it. I posted the thread drunk and when I woke up was scared to look at the responses until just now since Im drunk again.
Regardless, it was a cool experience.
Robber Baron cave doesnt extend to the Alamo these days.... it may have back in the early 1920's though before the origional land owner collapsed alot of the caves... That doesnt mean that there would have been an entrance to it from the Alamo... It may have just extended underneath it.
I read at one point, there was even a speak-easy located in the tunnels somewhere.
There is even a guy, who is now in his mid to late 80's, that dug a cave under his house with his father attempting to find a connecting tunnel to Robber Baron. It literally could be one of the largest cave systems in the world if not for the origional owner collapsing so many tunnels.
here's a map of the current open tunnels, its still a pretty huge cave system....
Last edited by phyzik; 08-22-2010 at 12:59 AM.
"Robber Baron cave doesnt extend to the Alamo these days.... it may have back in the early 1920's though before the origional land owner collapsed alot of the caves... That doesnt mean that there would have been an entrance to it from the Alamo... It may have just extended underneath it."
It doesnt connect now, but could have....we went alot farther than we should have, thats for sure.....and yes, Ive heard fromt eh old timers that a speak easy was down there as well...ever been thru the cave that runs thru Enchanted Rock?
Sorry, I could read the OP because I didn't feel like scrolling over and over. I don't have a 1900x1200 monitor like some people.
Is Robber Baron in or near Comanche Lookout Park?
Oh . Yeah.
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