San Antonio, TX- August 17 and 18

We got a late start leaving Sonora, TX. We pulled into San Antonio in the afternoon on August 17. It was really hot and humid.

We walked around the River Walk in downtown San Antonio on the 18th. It's a nice place to go to beat the heat. The River Walk is a long stretch of waterways lined with trees, hotels, shops, and restaurants. You can take boat cruises, but we opted out since the boats were not covered and it was so hot in the sun.

The River Walk is close to the Alamo, so we walked over and took a quick tour.

There's lots to do in San Antonio, but we decided to head to the beach instead of staying longer. Maybe we'll stop and spend more time on our way back across the country when it's cooler.

Caverns of Sonora - August 16

From Fort Stockton, we traveled to Sonora, TX. We stayed in the RV park at Caverns of Sonora. There was only one other RV in the park, but lots of visitors to the caverns every day. We had one tree at our site, which was up against the kitchen window. There were some nesting birds in the tree, and periodically, the momma bird would attack the kitchen window. I don't know what kind of birds they were. I tried to get a picture of them through the window, but the screen blurred it out.

The Caverns of Sonora claims to be "internationally recognized as one of the most beautiful show caves on the planet". It is the most beautiful cave I have seen. It's much more active than Carlsbad Caverns, and contains more helictites than most caves. A helictite is similar to a stalactite (hanging from the ceiling), except instead of dripping water and hanging vertically, the water is under pressure, and the helictites form in all different directions, seemingly defying gravity. This cave also claims to have the only known "fish tail" formations. Well worth the visit if you are ever in the area.

Resident goat

Cave popcorn

Fault line in the ceiling of the cave, responsible for the water flow into the cave, and thus, the cave formation.

Cave coral

Flow stone

Mike and I call this cave grapes.

Helictites

Fish tail formation

Part of this room was under water at some time. The parts that were under water formed "dog tooth" crystals.

Stalactites covered with helictites

Moon milk formation

Fort Stockton – August 15

On our way out of Brantley Lake State Park, we rescued a turtle. At first we thought he was just another squished rabbit on the road, but by the time we realized what it was, it was too late to hit the brakes. We managed to straddle him with both the motorhome and the towed car. We pulled over to the side of the road, and I picked him up and placed him safely in the brush on the other side.

Mike says he is a box turtle. Looking online, briefly, I think he is an ornate box turtle.

 

After getting settled at the RV park at Fort Stockton, we took the car into town. Not much to the town. There is an auto tour you can take, but there’s not much to it.

Slaughter Canyon Cave – August 14

On Friday, we took the tour to Slaughter Canyon Cave ($15.00 per person, requires reservations, and the tour is only given on Fridays). Slaughter Canyon Cave contains some of the largest columns in the entire park.

We met the ranger at the Carlsbad Caverns visitor center, where we were given instructions/guidelines and equipment: gloves and a helmet with a headlamp (you are responsible for providing 3 AA batteries for the headlamp). We then caravanned 20 miles to the trailhead (the last mile is unpaved).

The hike up to the cave entrance is a strenuous ½ mile trek up the mountainside with a 500’ change in elevation. Plus, it was 100 degrees as 9:00 in the morning. One of the members of our party, Rusty, suffered heat exhaustion halfway up and needed to be assisted back down. The rest of us rested in the shade at the mouth of the cave until the rangers returned.

Inside the cave, there are no paved paths, but you must stay between the red-taped lines to preserve the delicate cave formations. The floor of the cave is muddy, steep, and slippery. In two places we had to use knotted ropes to descend 15’ slopes (and then had to go back up on the way out). The cave is not lit, so the only light is the light from your headlamp. Twice, the rangers had us turn off our headlamps to experience the utter darkness and silence of the cave. While our lights were out, one of the rangers told us stories about the cave.

One of the stories was about how the cave got its name. The ranger proceeded to tell us a long story about the struggle between the cowboys and Indians. He was really dramatic, and had us all rapt with his tale. Then he told us that that’s really not how the cave got its name. There was a family with the last name of Slaughter that had a ranch in the canyon. One day, during a thunderstorm, the rancher had to leave some goats in the valley to take refuge from the storm. The next day, he heard the sounds of the goat coming up from an entrance of the cave. That’s how the cave was discovered.

We met another couple on the tour, Jackie and Josh, who were staying a couple of spaces away from us at Brantley Lake. We had dinner with them and really enjoyed their company. They are in the process of traveling from Massachusetts to Oregon on a motorcycle, pulling a small trailer containing their worldly belongings.

 

A view of the canyon from the mouth of the cave.

Our tour group. Jackie and Josh are the one's standing up with teal shirts.

Descending into the cave. 

Mike going down the first slippery slope.

This formation is called The Clansman, but they are looking for another, more politically correct, name. Suggestions were The Ghoul and The Dementor.

 

 

Carlsbad Caverns – August 12

On Wednesday, we did the self-guiding tour starting at the natural opening of Carlsbad Caverns. It’s about one mile and took about an hour.

After that, we did the King’s Palace tour ($8.00 per person and requires reservations). It’s a 1 ½ hour tour about a mile long. The path descends to 830 feet below the surface (the deepest part of the cave open to the public). I think some of the prettiest features of the park are in this area. It was difficult to capture good photos because it was dark and the features were so far from the path. The photos really don’t do it justice, either; so much depth is lost and the pic end up looking flat.

After we toured King’s Palace, we returned to the surface for lunch, then topped off the day with the self-guided tour of the Big Room. The Big Room tour takes about 1 ½ hours. It is impressive. It’s eight acres and has a 255 foot ceiling. The path seems to go on forever. The path seems to go on forever. For better pictures of the Big Room, see:

http://www.asergeev.com/pictures/k/Carlsbad_caverns_big_room.htm.

 

Some new friends I met in White's City.

The natural opening of Carlsbad Caverns.

Shy elephant.

The veiled statue.