January 24-25, 2020
Kickapoo Cavern State Park is fairly new, being the result of a Texas rancher who wanted to make this area available to all people. It's at the lower limit of the Texas Hill Country, which means I've ridden a motorcycle on all the nearby roads, but have never stopped to take a closer look.
Texas
The nearest city of any size (meaning a place where there's a choice of hotels and restaurants) is Del Rio, about an hour away.
The park has limited hours (Friday through Monday); the gate is closed the other days of the week. Tours of the cavern are on Saturday, by reservation.
I'll first walk a few of the trails of the park, then finish the next day with a guided tour of the cavern (shown at the end of the Cavern Road, below)
*Pine Canyon Trail*
It's not exactly a canyon, but there are hills on each side, so I guess that counts. Many of the trails in the park are partly the result of the old ranch roads, so there will be some easy walking on those old roads combined with more rugged single-track trails.
There are quite a few dry washes to be crossed. Actually, they're not completley dry, being a few pools of water here and there.
Birds can build their nests in all sorts of protected places.
*Armadillo Lookout Trail*
This trail is an out-and-back thing that goes to the top of that hill.
It's nice that there's a bench at the top. The view in this direction looks north over the road that enters the park as well as the buildings of the park headquarters.
This is the view looking south.
*Barbado Ridge Trail*
I think this is the best trail in the park. It follows a winding ridgeline and has great views. It's rated as strenuous, but I don't know that I'd rate it that harshly. It's easy enough.
*Long Way Home Trail*
This is an interesting old ranch gate. No hinges are needed.
A huge effort was made to clear this land for grazing and for crops. The problem is that if the fields are abandoned, all the invasive plants quickly move in and create a dense thicket of the wrong sort.
The park (and volunteers) have done a nice job at creating this new trail.
*Tommy Seargeant Memorial Trail*
That hill in the center? That's the Armadillo Lookout (where the bench is).
*Kickapoo Cavern*
Why this name? Who knows; it has nothing to do with the people of the tribe of that name. It's had other names before this one.
There were fourteen of us who signed up for today's guided tour of the cavern. We boarded this bus at the park headquarters and then took the rough ride to the cavern entrance.
The cavern has no lights, so everybody needed to bring a flashlight (and a spare). You should have enough battery-life to last three hours. The cave-helmets are provided.
It's a small entrance, and not much preparation has been made to make the descent easier. That's good; if you don't feel up to this entrance, then you should just wait outside while the tour continues--there'd be no point in going in.
A scorpion waits for food near the entrance. I didn't know that they fluoresce under black-light.
Our volunteer guide did a very good job at pointing things out and explaining things. I gather he's experienced at reading his audience and adjusting his talk accordingly. At this point--early in the cavern--we're standing on the rubble from a ceiling-fall that happened years ago.
There are two of these columns, side-by-side; remarkable.
We descend deeper and deeper, often climbing down rocks with the aid of both hands. As our leader said, if you need to sit down and go down that way, then that's what you should do. If you don't feel up to continuing, then just sit down and we'll be back eventually.
Parts of the cavern are still "alive" and there is continuous year-round water dripping from the ceiling.
The cavern is warm and humid. The temperature reflects the whole-year average of south Texas, so that means mid-eighties. Outside it's pretty chilly (being January).
Each helmet gets sprayed with antiseptic.
An excellent destination.