The Caverns of Sonora

After we left Garner State Park, we decided we wanted to surprise the kids with a trip to The Caverns of Sonora, located near Sonora, TX off of I-10. They are totally infatuated with caves after our Crystal Cave discovery at Garner State Park. You can read about that here. I have been to the Caverns of Sonora several times in my lifetime, and Paul had been once before, but the kids have never been in anything like it! We left it as a “destination unknown” for them because they get such a kick out of them.

We bought our tickets online the day before and printed them out ahead of time. I called ahead to make sure they had somewhere for us to park our rig. They assured me they did. When we got there, it wasn’t completely obvious where we should park, but we did notice some narrow pull-through sites behind the building. At that time, there was only one other occupant, so we went ahead and pulled in. We were hoping, even if we had to pay for the site, that they would let us hook up and turn on the A/C for Tipper. *Note: They offer a free kennel for dogs, but Tipper doesn’t realize she’s a dog. She would have freaked!* Thankfully, they were very nice and understanding and only charged us for a tent site since we would only be there for a couple of hours while we toured the caverns. I will say that although these sites are very convenient to the caverns, they are very tight for big rigs (just something to consider). When we came out from our tour, the pull-throughs were full and a motor home was waiting for us to move out. It filled up really quickly with RVs.

On our walk to the gift shop, we came across these beautiful peacocks. We were laughing because the male was putting on a good show for the ladies, but they were just not interested at all! He sure was gorgeous though!

The tour was great and our guide was really good. He had a funny sense of humor. Emily (my little teacher’s pet) trailed right behind him the whole time, answering his questions with quirky answers. Tyler asked a couple of really intelligent questions, which is more than I can say about the family behind us. (No, “midgets” did not build the caverns…WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?) Our guide really liked Tyler. He let him carry around a crystal and a flashlight to show everyone on our tour what it looked and felt like. It was pretty cool!

I really don’t want to give too many details about the cavern because most of it, you just have to see for yourself! It is a living and highly decorated cave. The further into it you go, the more beautiful it is. Also, they are totally serious about not touching anything but the handrails. The guide will call you out. It is actually against the law. The older gentleman who was behind us kept forgetting he was supposed to look and not touch. Oops!

Caverns of Sonora, TX

We highly recommend the Caverns of Sonora tour if you are passing by on I-10. The tour takes about two hours. It’s a warm cave at about 72 degrees F and 98% humidity, so you’ll want to dress in shorts, t-shirt, and walking shoes. There are approximately 360 stair steps and you go to a depth of 155 ft. below the surface.

For some fun cave facts, here are some great resources.

It is a really neat place to visit and highly educational!

Anybody else been to the Caverns of Sonora? We would love to hear your memories or experiences!