Longhorn Cavern State Park

Location: Jim Hogg Corps of Engineers Campground; Georgetown, Texas (Near Austin)

All pictures taken with Nokia Lumia Icon 929 Cell Phone

The weather has finally warmed up some with the temperatures predicted to be in the low 70's for the next couple of days. I'll try not to complain about the heat like I did the cold,,, maybe, maybe not. I was able to wander around the campground a little.

Lookie there, I found a bench. First one in a while.

Taken from one of the fishing docks. The campground is in the far distance.

The sky always looks great after a front comes through

Looking back at the lake while going to the parking lot.

Deer are everywhere around here. Those are some of the trees I've been trying to find the name.

Blackjack Oak??? Strangely, a lot of the local don't know

One of the reasons for coming here besides escaping the cold weather up north was to visit the Longhorn Caverns. They are part of a Texas State Park, but sadly, the park doesn't have a campground. I was interested to see how they compared to Carlsbad Caverns that I visited a year or so ago. I knew the entrance fee was higher for Longhorn than Carlsbad so my expectations were spiked a little.

The cavern was "supposedly" formed over 300 million years ago when the ground rose up thereby cracking the limestone. This cracking allowed water to begin dissolving the limestone which created the caverns. That is about as brief as I can make it, but again, it was "supposedly" created this way. There is always the "expanding earth theory" that can be used to explain things as well. 

The caverns are about an hour drive from the campground. It passes through the edge of the Texas Hill Country with its Oak and Cedar Trees. I haven't been able to find the name of the smaller and broader Oak trees. I've asked several people and all they say is it's an Oak Tree. Oh well, one of the good suggestions was a Blackjack Oak. I like that name and may just call them that and quit asking.

The beginning of the Texas Hill Country

This is a busy picture. The building in the background was built by the CCC in the 1930's, when they cleaned out the cavern.

My tour group going into the darkness

Looking up through one of the openings near the entrance.

There is a nice path throughout the cavern

They said this was naturally formed and was a million plus years old. 

Typical cavern

Some of the improvements to capture the water 

There were places where you had to bend over to keep from bumping your head

I caught up with the tour group again

Some places almost looked fake

Better duck your head

Stairways to the light and the Exit.

After getting back from the caverns, I went to the H-E-B grocery store. It has been a few years since I've been in one, and boy howdy I had forgotten how great they are. They have anything and everything you could want plus their prices are really great. I picked up a couple Chuck Eye Steaks for $5.00. I had them last night and they were tasty, tasty. I guess two of the main things for anyone passing through Texas to stop and see are a Buc'ees gas station and an H-E-B.

Moving day will be Saturday and of course they are saying rain with a few thunderstorms for both here and where I'm going. We will see how bad it gets and how much dodging I'll have to do. By the way, the next stop will be on the Gulf of Mexico at Quintana Beach County Campground in Freeport, Texas. I look forward to seeing the Gulf again, it's been way too long.

First decent sunrise I've seen in a long time. I hope to see more at the next campground.

 Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.