Kickapoo Cavern State Park Part Two: We Like It Anyway

They ended up having two no shows for the cave tour, so Bud and I joined the group getting aboard the State Park van.

After a drive of a few miles, about half on a dirt track, we arrived at the trail up to the cave.

So we have to climb in that hole?

Yep.

Unfortunately, once inside Bud and I discovered that neither of our flashlights was up to the job. We don’t have headlamps, our back up lights were the flashlight apps on our phones, but we couldn’t even turn Bud’s on. So this is as far as we got. We were willing to wait at the entrance for the rest to come back, but they have an extra person and an extra vehicle to take people back if they decide not to go on. We were the drop outs this time.

Afterwards I talked to a couple, fellow campers and older like us. They said we made the right choice to turn back. There were places where you had to climb over rocks and slide down on your butt. Coming back you had to climb back that slope you’d slid down. Doing that without being able to see well and with a dim flashlight in your hand would not have been fun and might have been dangerous.

So if we want to see any more of this cave it will have to be next time with proper lights. It might be interesting to go in a wild cave, but if the only light I have is the one I’m carrying I want it to be a very good one. What was I thinking? But honestly, we didn’t realize how bad our lights were until we had to rely on only them to see.

This morning was foggy and drizzly, but in the upper fifties. Surprisingly, Bud said he would walk with Matey and me. We chose a short hike on the Vireo View Trail. Those stalks you see are Sotol. Seeing them was like seeing old friends again, “Oh, I know you.”

It was nice to have Bud along.

The views were muted, but nice.

This would be an inviting place to rest in the hot sun.

The middle third of our walk took us along a vehicle track, part of which had a thin layer of gluey mud and part was gravely. This resulted in poor Matey having little stones glued to his muddy feet. We had to stop several time to pull them off.

We were all happy to get off that and back on the park road.

Despite the disappointments, we really like this place. It’s rare to find a place with such solitude and such good amenities. We will be back!