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Inner Space Caverns in Georgetown, TexasExploring a Natural WonderBy Autumn Rhea Carpenter
With tours departing approximately every 15-20 minutes, my adventure tour group comprised of a group of family and friends, ranging from elementary to college-aged students, parents and retired folks. Carolyn and Dean Cleveland of Georgetown (from November through June) and Ohio (June through November) and their friend Robert (Bob) Snyder of Port Clinton, Ohio, and his family were members of our tour group. Bob and Dean kept the tour guide on his toes. When we passed other tour groups, Bob and Dean teased them that they were the cave dwellers. The other tour guides cheerfully hooted and asked if our group was indeed, having a fun time.
After a small group of businesspeople organized the Georgetown Corporation, the cavern was commercialized, which led to increased finds. During the summer of 1966, Inner Space Caverns opened to the public, after 1,000,000 years in the making. We continued our 3/4-mile walk into the cave’s heart, listening to the echoes and enjoying a constant temperature of 72 degrees. The cave’s rooms opened up, showcasing glittering stalactites (An icicle-like mineral formations hanging from the ceiling) and stalagmites (formations rising from the cave’s floor) and learned that the formations eventually meet to create a solid formation. Inner Space Caverns also serves as a paleontological site. Several animals from the Ice Age have been discovered there, including bones of the Saber Toothed tigers, mammoths, Texas kangaroo rats and black-tailed prairie dogs. A section of the cave maintains colorful paintings of these animals, depicting their roles during the Ice Age. Once deep inside the cavern, we saw a lone albino cricket and our guide explained the cricket’s color. “Normal, everyday black crickets venture into the caves and are forced to live without light,” said our guide. “Eventually, in the complete darkness, they become blind. They slowly lose their color pigmentation and turn white. Then their antennas grow four times the “normal” length. It’s quite an anomaly. They evolve to a rather simple condition, instead of a higher, more complex form of existence.”
During our hour and 15-minute tour, we witnessed glorious open rooms, filled with exquisite formations. There was water flowing, slowly carving out new sculptures. If you employed your imagination, some of the structures resembled sharks, mermaids, Buddha, the Titanic and ice cream cones. Each object held a different significance to each person. Some cavern highlights include the soda straw balcony, the flowing stone of time and the mysterious lake of the moon. Tony allowed us to touch one structure, that was tainted black from years of human contact. “If you touch this structure, you’ll receive five years of good luck, especially if you rub it with your nose.” Bob bravely rubbed his nose on the structure, claiming he needed all the luck he could get. At the end of our tour, while riding the shuttle back to the sunshine-world, Dean rated Inner Space Caverns. “I’ve visited several caves, including Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, caves in New Zealand, Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and Perry’s Cave in Put-In-Bay, Ohio,” he said. “I was surprised at the different formations and alcoves at Inner Space Caverns.” Bob shared his cave opinions. “My wife and are live in the Hill Country from June through November and try to experience all that make this area special,” he said. “I’m glad we went on this tour! I was really impressed with the tour guide’s knowledge and with the intricate formations. These caverns were awesome and much more that I expected.” Open 7-days a week, Inner Space Caverns offers two types of tours: the adventure tour (adults - $12.95 and children, ages 4-12 - $6.95) and the new explorer’s tour (adults - $18.95, children, ages 4-12-$10.50) The explorer tour lasts an hour and 35 minutes and covers an extended 1.2 mile trail. Organized group rates are also available. (Study guides are also available for class trips.) Other attractions include panning for gems and minerals at the Inner Space Mine, playscape and shaded picnic grounds and a complete gift and snack shop. For more information regarding Inner Space Caverns,
visit:
www.innerspace.com Photos by James Jasek |
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TM
Spelunking is one of those $10 words that I constantly
try to fit into my normal conversations. “Say! Do you happen to know any
famous spelunkers?” Or possibly, “You know, I always dreamed of becoming a
professional spelunker.” The word resonates with clunky syllables that roll
around on the tongue. In case you’re wondering, a 
We rode a 5-minute shuttle into the cave and prepared
for our underground adventure. Our guide explained that the Texas Highway
Department core-drilling team discovered the cavern during the spring of
1963. The crew was drilling test holes, to determine whether the ground was
stable enough to support a large highway overpass, when one of the drill
bits fell 26-feet. After drilling 40-feet through limestone, today’s Inner
Space Caverns was discovered.
Upon reaching the final region of the cave, we
experienced “total darkness” when our guide turned off his flashlight.
Everyone waved their hands directly in front of their faces, testing the
theory. When our man-made light was extinguished, our group melted in to the
cave’s underground world.