Longhorn Caverns

[Citrus Novii]

Longhorn caverns is one of the most extensive cave systems in the U.S. It's been used for a lot of things over the years from a relief from heat by Native Americans, to a speak easy, to a hide out for confederate soldiers. It was also cited as a bomb shelter should the Cold War have come to nuclear fruition. It's AMAZING. By the way.

I go there all the time, because I'm a loser.". gonk PLUS, I only live like 20 minutes from it.
I took the boyfriend recently since he's never been in a cave like that and he snapped some pictures, so I figured I'd share. c:
Some aren't the best quality, sorry about that.

Ceiling

The patterns in the ceiling were formed by whirlpools

Crystals

MORE!

The Queen's Throne

Crystal City

MORE!

Eagle's Wings

Coolness

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Queen's Watchdog (totally natural formation - no use of tools.)

There were lotsa bats. . _ .
Sleeping in wait.  

[GoldDiggingWhore]

Did the bats bite you or your face?  

[Citrus Novii]

GoldDiggingWhore

Did the bats bite you or your face?

Luckily not! The ones we saw were sleeping. c:
The other group that was with us though had little kids that were all, OMGITSGOINGTOEATMYFEET and stuff.  

[AngelAmy]

o.o These are incredible.
kind of, sort of jealous.... heart  

[Citrus Novii]

AngelAmy

o.o These are incredible.
kind of, sort of jealous.... heart

:D  

[Citrus Novii]

Sagebomb

Looks awesome, how long is the caving system? Are there parts which go underwater?

Looks like limestone, I love limestone caves, the form so many awesome patterns and such.

Kinda reminds me of the cave which is about 40 mins from my home (Although its one you can walk in one end and out the other end.

This one Sorry I havent heard the audio so I dont know what the audio on thats like. But is shows them going through the cave, and its one of my fave caves. (Its nice and dark ^_^ you you get to climb up a really cold stream)

Love the pics, hope I get to check that place out one day.

I believe the cave system is about 6 miles long. The actual tour is only 1.25 miles, some of the things that the tourist was telling us lay beyond the tour ground like an underground lake. There is a river that still flows through the cave, but we've been in drought so long that it's dry down there now. When we get our gully washers it fills up to the brim though, I remember reading in the paper a few years ago about a group that almost died down there as there was a tour in progress. They had to call the fire department and everything because when you get there you go down this staircase which leads into the grotto and no one could beat the water to get up the stairs. SCARY STUFF.

It is limestone. c:
That cave looks so FREAKING awesome. I would so do that.
Longhorn Caverns actually has quite a few entrances but when Roosevelt administration was attempting to give jobs to the hungry during the great depression (that was when they started to dig out all of the debris and dirt) they closed most of them.

If you ever came to my area of Texas I would drag you to every state park around here. Just in my area there's Longhorn Caverns, Inks Lake, Enchanted Rock, Old Bluffton which is exposed when they drain the lakes, tons of stuff in this state.  

[GoldDiggingWhore]

Maybe I should try going into a cave sometime. I don't think I ever have before >.>;  

[Citrus Novii]

GoldDiggingWhore

Maybe I should try going into a cave sometime. I don't think I ever have before >.>;

They're super fun.
It's so...other worldy when you're below the ground like that. It's very peaceful, good for thinking. c:  

[Citrus Novii]

Sagebomb

Citrus Novii

I believe the cave system is about 6 miles long. The actual tour is only 1.25 miles, some of the things that the tourist was telling us lay beyond the tour ground like an underground lake. There is a river that still flows through the cave, but we've been in drought so long that it's dry down there now. When we get our gully washers it fills up to the brim though, I remember reading in the paper a few years ago about a group that almost died down there as there was a tour in progress. They had to call the fire department and everything because when you get there you go down this staircase which leads into the grotto and no one could beat the water to get up the stairs. SCARY STUFF.

It is limestone. c:
That cave looks so FREAKING awesome. I would so do that.
Longhorn Caverns actually has quite a few entrances but when Roosevelt administration was attempting to give jobs to the hungry during the great depression (that was when they started to dig out all of the debris and dirt) they closed most of them.

If you ever came to my area of Texas I would drag you to every state park around here. Just in my area there's Longhorn Caverns, Inks Lake, Enchanted Rock, Old Bluffton which is exposed when they drain the lakes, tons of stuff in this state.

It does sound like a fun cave, are you allowed to go in without a guide? Cave stream is basically just a free style cave, you go there when you want with your own prep. However that in the past has taken some lives as people have gone in not understanding the significance of water levels, or how cold it can actually be (Its a stream, that can become quite fast, and its pure snow melt waters, so even in summer its still cold).

Yeah sounds cool, I really do need to see more of texas besides just Dalhart.

Nope, you have to go in with a guide, they have the entire thing caged off and you need to have a password to open it and everything. The best tour that they have though is one where you get a hardhat and get to belly crawl through portions of the cave, the worst part about that tour is the lovely amount of bat poop and mud (depending on the weather. Last time I went on that one it had recently rained) but you get to see tons of cool stuff. 3nodding
They also do a paranormal tour, it's creeps, but I only liked that one because you get to be in the cave when it's dark. It's a little too...convenient for me, that ghost silliness.

JEEZ That town is like a 7 hour drive from here!

EDIT: You def have to be careful when you go anywhere like that, even with a guide. :<
No silliness, and always research!  

[Citrus Novii]

Sagebomb

Citrus Novii

rk. It's a little too...convenient for me, that ghost silliness.

JEEZ That town is like a 7 hour drive from here!

EDIT: You def have to be careful when you go anywhere like that, even with a guide. :<
No silliness, and always research!

Sounds fun, Im just not a fan on comercial tours in those sorts of areas, I would rather explore them myself. But I have done cave tours before.

And XD Yeah I know. Remember I am ropes qualified, and I managed my first ropes program back in 2004. Atm I run the ropes program at this camp I am working in in Canada. I manage 2 climbing walls (with 4 top ropes) a pretty large zipline, bouldering wall, high ropes course with 7 elements (Which could potentially have up to 12 kids on it at a time if I had the staff), another high ropes course in the trees with 2 more elements. A low ropes course, and team building inititive task course. I would like to consider my knowledge of ropes/knots/harnesses/helmets/saftey equipment/rescue equipment quite high (As well as many other adventure program type things, sure if I wanted to become a cave guide I would probally need some specific site training, but I recon I would catch on fast.). As well as wilderness training in terms of first aid/understanding and reading weather/ risk management and more.

Of course it is often the experience people who get into trouble as they are more likley to take risks. But when ever I am exploring a new area (Especially if I have others with me). I am always on top of the safety game. I am glad saftey is a concern of yours.

Also I agree I research things massivly. One of my personal life quests is to amass as much knowledge as I can. Which means taking every chance I have to learn. Especially from others, you never know what you may be able to learn from a stranger ^_^

I like commercial tours to a point. For the caverns its the only way in so no choice there, but every where else I like to wander around. 3nodding

One of those days I'm going to get some time to do some stuff like that. Minus the kids. I don't know how you can manage that many kids, even if it's not like scaling a mountain or whatever. It seems a lot of the cave/tour guide stuff is mostly showmanship though. I've seen some really good ones, and some downright terrible ones. The ones at the caverns aren't state employees or anything either so they outright solicit for tips, which kind of is irritating.

As someone who seems to constantly get hurt doing general everyday things, when I plan on doing something out of the ordinary I've found it's best for my skeletal structure if I know what I'm getting into lol.

I also just like researching stuff though.
You do really have to listen to people though, I mean even if it's not serious stuff like safety and what not, if you're just super shut out to learning new things no one would know how to drive, or even function really in society.