GARDEN RIDGE, Texas — You almost get the sense of what the original finders of Natural Bridge Caverns must have felt. Hundreds of thousands of people have been through Natural bridge caverns since it was first formally explored in the 1960's.
Now you can explore the St. Mary's Trail, a never before, open to the public partof the cavern.
"We want to share the cave, while also protecting the cave as much as we can" says Spence Weaver, with Natural Bridge Caverns.
Sharing means everyone who takes the tour will have to climb up and down with ropes, sometimes crawl up portions of the trail and at one point be brave enough to traverse a very narrow portion of the cave, while strapped into a harness and have the chance to dangle out over a 30' pit.
You have to be in, relatively good shape as the tour requires a bit of physical strength. It also requires you wear clothes and boots or shoes you're not worried about getting muddy. At one point we had to wade through shin deep water!
The work you do is quickly paid off with what you see. There are unique stalagtites, stalagmites and columns at every turn. There is also amazing black calcite and "boxwork", extremely delicate formations carved out by centuries of water flow.
Even if you've been to Natural Bridge Caverns a dozen times, a return trip is worth it to take this tour. It is limited to just 6 people a day, and at that rate, if you don't act fast...you may find yourself with quite a wait.