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Venturing nearly 200 feet underground, thousands of crystals and columns surround your every move as you move deeper into the cavern you begin to see how the Earth’s natural beauty has been displayed for thousands of years.
Beginning as the Wuest family ranch, the cavern site was originally discovered by four students from St. Mary’s University in 1960. By looking into what they thought was a small cave, the students quickly discovered there was much more to the land than expected. Finding over two miles of magnificent formations including towering columns, emerald pools and crystalline soda straws, the Wuest family had to make a decision — should they continue to farm on the land or would they find a way to showcase the natural beauty found on their property? After careful consideration, the family decided to open the caverns for all to see and began operations in 1964.
As Texas’ most actively explored cavern with expeditions and explorations currently underway, the Wuest family continues to explore and expand its facility to showcase the seventh longest cavern system in Texas with recent discoveries of three wildcat skeletons found this year with help from the UT Jackson School of Geosciences.
With activities including guided and adventure tours, the Natural Bridge Caverns showcases naturally-made formations and crystals all grown underground in a preserved and sealed off environment. The facility also offers surface activities like a zip rails and ropes course, climbing trail, maze and gem and fossil mining.
This May, the caverns will open its Hidden Wonders tour offering a new never-toured area of the facility. With no natural opening to the surface, the Hidden Cavern will showcase formations grown with no outside interference.
“The Hidden Wonders Tour experience is going to showcase this cavern like never before,” Natural Bridge Caverns President Brad Wuest says. “Many people don’t realize we have two distinct caverns available to tour: our Discovery Cavern and the Hidden Cavern. The Hidden Cavern is a unique environment which never had a natural opening to the surface. As a result, incredibly delicate and beautiful formations were able to grow in a completely sealed environment.”
With a million dollar investment of 3,366 lights featuring 8,704 LED bulbs, the Hidden Wonders tour will take the caverns to the next level offering the ultimate viewing experience. The interior cavern will also feature an educational tunnel nicknamed “critter corridor” which will showcase information about cave adapted species found inside the cavern by biologists.
“We plan to showcase the science behind the beauty of this once hidden cavern on our tour,” Wuest says. “With Hidden Wonders’ many enhancements we have an opportunity to both educate and entertain.”
The new tour will also offer the world’s only belt assisted transport, or BAT, conveyor ride, which will carry guests 700 feet out of the cave back to the surface.
“It’s the first time this kind of system has been used in a cave environment and it is a wonderful experience to ride. It’s slow enough for people to feel comfortable, but faster than hiking out the incline,” Director of Communications Winter Prosapio says. “It’s quite literally a conveyor belt built to stand up on and ride out. They use these systems in all kinds of places like ski resorts and waterparks.”
With careful consideration for the natural formations, the Hidden Cavern has been under construction since September of 2017 adding proximity sensors for lighting, stainless-steel bridge, and fiber optic cables and WIFI designed to allow computerized control of added features. The cave also features a 5,700 square foot underground grand ballroom, which will be available for use for special events including weddings, meetings and partys.
Those interested in taking advantage of the new tour should plan their trip for after its opening on May 12. The caverns also offer a number of summer activities and special features which guests can plan their trip around. Each weekend in June, the facility will also host Discovery Days celebrating the discovery and ongoing exploration of the caves, Prosapio says.
“During Discovery Days, we have presentations, caving simulations (like crawling through a “squeeze box” and tunnel), knot instruction, and more,” she says. “We also have live music every weekend all summer long.”
Natural Bridge Caverns located at 26495 Natural Bridge Caverns Road in San Antonio and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information or to get tickets, visit naturalbridgecaverns.com or call (210) 651-6101.
