B01_October 24.pd - Archived Editions of the Fort Hood Sentinel

Section B
Fall extravaganza ...... B2
Calendar ................... B3
Across Central Texas ... B5
LeisurE
T H U R S D A Y , O C O T B E R 24, 2013
Showcase
Hood sheds light on what
community has to offer
B6
www.FortHoodSentinel.com
Descend under Texas in
newly-discovered cavern
BY ERIN ROGERS
Sentinel Leisure Editor
GEORGETOWN — When I was younger,
exploring caves wasn’t something I was interested in.
Seeing photos of the creepy-crawly critters
that dwell in caves across the world seemed
like something straight out of a nightmare
to me.
Now that I’m older, I’ve learned not to
Google the creatures that may or may not be
living in caves, and I go exploring without
the thought of those photos in my head,
flashing across my memory while walking
through the dimly-lit caves.
With the rainy weather, now is the perfect
time to go explore a few caves – and I took
advantage of heading to Inner Space Caverns
in Georgetown with my Family on a particularly stormy afternoon a few days ago.
Inner Space Caverns is one of the most
newly-discovered caves in the world – only
being discovered by the Texas Highway
Department in 1963, meaning it was hidden
away for more than 10,000 years.
On our tour a few days ago, the guide
told us that the caverns were discovered by
an employee of the highway department
while drilling through more than 40 feet of
limestone for the highway when the drill
bit broke into the caves. That employee was
lowered, on the drill bit, into Inner Space
Caverns in the spring of 1963 and became
the first human to ever enter the cave.
I can confidently say that if I had been
the person to drill through, there is no way
I’d ever lower myself, hanging tightly to a
drill stem, into a giant, unknown void under
the ground – no thanks, but I’m glad he did
because touring the caverns is a great experience today.
After arriving, purchasing our tickets and
hearing the safety brief from our tour guide,
a group of about 15 people, including my
Family, started down into the cave.
Among our group were my two young
cousins – Bella and Thomas – who are 10
See Cavern, B7
Photos by Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor
UPPER LEFT, Tour guides at Inner Space Cavern are extremely knowledgeable and
friendly, providing safety briefs, jokes and plenty of interesting facts and legends
about the caves. UPPER MIDDLE, Our tour group at Inner Space Cavern filters into
one of the largest caverns on the tour. This particular room is where the drill bit
from the highway employee drilled into in the 60s, leading to the discovery of the
10,000-year-old caves. UPPER RIGHT, Inner Space Cavern is conveniently located
on I-35 at exit 259, close enough for an afternoon trip from Fort Hood. ABOVE,
Our tour groups descends into Inner Space Cavern for the “Adventure Tour” on a
rainy day.