“Popcorn Cavern” aka Caverns of Sonora
The drive out to Caverns if Sonora is a long one for most Texans. Despite the formations being described as one of the most beautiful and unique caves within Texas, it is one of the least visited by tourists. Sonora is 90 minutes west of Fredericksburg, Texas where the hill country meets the west. It is also the halfway point between San Antonio, Texas and Big Bend National Park.
Some 20 million years ago, there was a major earthquake in central Texas that resulted in pushing the Earth west, creating the lengthy hills county, and stretched the rest of the Earth’s surface in a prairie to the east. Austin is split between these two ecoregions where the Balcones Fault can be seen on the ceilings of Longhorn Cavern and Inner Space Cavern. There isn’t much information on the earthquake that occurred during the Miocene Period, however, the Balcones Fault is considered to be one of the lowest risk zones for earthquakes in the United States. Evidence of the fault on the surface is through the hill country, but the splitting of the Earth can also be seen beneath the surface of Boerne, Texas at Cascade Caverns and Cave Without A Name. Proof of the fault line in Texas extends from the Dallas/Fort Worth region southwestward through Waco, Temple, Austin and then westward through San Antonio to Del Rio, partially traveling up I-35.
Satellite image courtesy of Spectrum News.
While visiting the Guadalupe Mountains I was fascinated with the earth’s expansion in the west region that formed its mountains; but it was on my Texas cave tours where I learned of how the central region gained its beautiful hills and plateaus.
Much like most of Texas’ caves, Caverns of Sonora was discovered by residents of a family ranch. Thankfully, for generations the family has allowed public tourism with state and federal protections. This area is frequently visited by geologists worldwide as there were one two helictites growing from the same formation, resulting in what looked like butterfly wings. Unfortunately, throughout a group of college tourists in the early 2000s contained one student that sneakily stayed behind to remove one “wing” as his personal souvenir. After accidentally leaving his wallet with his driver’s license in the parking lot, a surprised employee noticed his Facebook account flaunting the stolen helictite. The family that owns the property were infuriated by the news that they successfully pressure the judicial system to raise the act of “stealing” any cave formations from a misdemeanor to a class 3 felony in the state of Texas.
I decided not to photograph the once two-winged structure, but this is what it once looked like.
If you’re like me and don’t know what a helictite is; it’s formed by the water moving in a curved direction rather than straight down that creates stalactites. It almost seems as if the water defies gravity, but the water moves very slow and it is suspected that the heavy moisture within the cavern influences outward growth. I’ve never seen, nor heard of helictites until this tour.
We were most impressed by how the stalactites and stalagmites looked liked rough, dried coral rather than smoothed icicles. The guide explained that the humidity is always high and the heavy moisture in the air adds growth to the formation of each structure. The moment we walked through the corridor, the high levels of humidity was instantly weighing. Humidity levels remain at a 98-99% density year-round.
My daughter giggled at the thought of almost the entire cavern resembling popcorn. It was nice taking our time as my daughter and I were the only people on the tour, and it was the last tour of the day. I remember Cave Without A Name being very humid, but this cavern had me drenched in sweat. We took our time throughout the cavern since we were the only visitors and our guide was kind to take so many photos of the two of us.
Our guide also gave me liberty to take my time as I sought the right opportunities to take some landscape photographs. She also informed me that there is a photography tour available if I was interested in returning—tripods allowed!
If you’re looking for a very quiet camping experience, I highly recommend setting up a tent or RV on the campgrounds. Thankfully, we not only arrived on time to make the last tour of the day, all campsites were available. Whew! Good luck with reception; tthere was only one patch of gravel where my phone picked up signal before driving 15 minutes out of the park. But it wasn’t long before I lost signal a few more times until making it to Fredericksburg. No complaints here.
Despite Caverns of Sonora only having one attraction—not even trails were accessible as the family that owns the property graciously only allows public visitors to the cavern—the shop is worth spending some time. There are trinkets, local and historic artifacts, and snacks. My daughter thought she’d enjoy a sucker with a scorpion inside… I’m proud of her for trying.
After touring more than a handful of caves, I felt more confident than ever with my skills to capture these natural wonders through landscape photography—especially throughout our experience at Cave Without A Name.
This was our last stop on the Texas Cave Trail. We not only received our final stamp on our passports, but we received an unexpected prize of two t-shirts to commemorate our accmoplishments!
If you’d like to own one of these images, click or tap on the image eligible for purchase to go straight to my print shop.
