Contributed by Inner Space Cavern: One of the best preserved caves in Texas, Inner Space Cavern has hosted hundreds of thousands of visitors since 1966 and offers a variety of activities year round.
InnerSpaceCavern.com • 4200 S IH-35 Georgetown
With roots dating back as early as 1895, spelunking, now referred to as caving, offers an adventurous escape beneath the earth’s surface. Learn how to start your caving journey and discover the best spots in Texas to begin your subterranean exploration.
What is spelunking?
This thrilling activity, also known as caving, involves exploring natural, undeveloped caves. Spelunking was a popular term through the 1960s, but today the term caving is often preferred.
How do I start?
To get a taste of this underground adventure, consider taking a wild cave tour. In Texas, you can embark on such tours at Inner Space Cavern (located here in Georgetown), Caverns of Sonora, Longhorn Caverns State Park, and Natural Bridge Caverns. These guided tours, which usually require reservations, typically provide essential gear such as helmets, lights, gloves, knee pads, and elbow pads.
If you love your caving experience, the next step is to join a Grotto. Grottos are local groups of cavers affiliated with the National Speleological Society. Here in Georgetown, most cavers belong to the UT (Underground Texas) Grotto based in Austin, allowing you to dive deeper into the caving community. The UT Grotto meets on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 6:30pm, with details posted on their website (utgrotto.org). Meetings might include guest speakers, recent trip reports, or upcoming trips.
Grottos also host cave trips that allow you to go caving with and learn from cavers with different levels of experience. In addition, since caves can be on private property, state property, or run by a conservancy, the Grotto makes the necessary arrangements with the landowner prior to the trip.
Having the right equipment is also extremely important. At the minimum for a dry horizontal cave (no rope work): a sturdy caving helmet, three reliable sources of light (two of which are mounted to the helmet, gloves, knee pads, and elbow pads. A small pack that includes extra batteries, water, non-crumbly snack, and first aid kit should also be carried.
Rules for safe caving:
- Never cave alone. An ideal number is at least four people. In the event of an accident, one person stays with the injured person and the other two get help.
- Always get permission from the landowner.
- Tell a person who is not going on the trip about the location of the cave you are visiting and estimated time you will be out of the cave. When you finish your caving trip, let this person know you are out, otherwise they might assume something has happened and call for help.
- Have the proper caving gear.
- No one in the group should be pushed beyond their limits.
- Check the weather before going, as some caves can flood quickly.
- At least one person in the group should be familiar with the cave being visited.
- Keep in mind that cave environments are extremely fragile. Care must be taken to avoid damaging formations, which can take thousands of years to grow, and avoid harming animal life (most caves have species that are unique to that cave). Follow the caver’s motto: Take nothing but pictures, Leave nothing but footprints, Kill nothing but time.