After I went through the Enchanted Rock cave the first time I needed some more underground adventures. I got home and did a search for austin caves. I was trying to find out about the cave my brother told me about. Eventually I came across the austin360 web site which was talking about a cave called Airman's Cave and had directions to it. This was interesting. I came across the cave forum and read all the posts. Then I came to one with a link to a SWT web site, which had the map of Airman's. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I have lived in Austin about 14 years and never knew there was this huge cave right under the shopping center I've been through countless times.
A guy named Jim posted that he had been in Airman's a little way and it was tricky. Claustrophobic or large people need not apply, was the message he was trying to get across. I kept trying to imagine what the keyhole looked like and if I could get through. He stated that he was going in again and whoever wanted to go should email him. So I did.
He emailed me back and described the cave a little more to me and what I needed to bring, etc. We decided to meet at 1pm that Saturday.
My friend James said he would come with me but he said he was not going in. He barely made it through the E.R. cave without freaking out. (When I told James I had only been through the cave once before, he got scared and said "No man you've been through lots of times right?") So we parked at the 360 Greenbelt access parking lot and started heading down the trail. We stopped and checked out the rock climbers which was pretty cool. Eventually the creek branched and we started walking up the side of the embankment of the creek, which began going really high. We decided we took a wrong turn at Alberquerque so we turned around. We then walked in the creekbed to the right and came upon a huge overhang on the side of the creek. I thought this had to be it so we went up to check it out. No go.
Walking a little further, we came across a couple girls sitting by a pool in the creekbed. We asked them if they knew where the cave was, and they pointed behind us. We walked up the side of the creek's embankment and found a deep hole with air coming out. Now this had to be it! I thought Jim and whoever he was with had already gone in. But people had definitely had gone in there before by the look of the floor. I shined my flashlight down the tunnel and could barely see the end. I decided to go in, shrugging off the bit of claustrophobia I had. James got nervous.
Inside the tunnel, you have to crawl on you stomach and kinda push with your feet. It took a couple minutes to get to the end. Upon getting there, I saw some candles and a face or two carved into the side of the wall. It was pretty cool. I imagined this as the welcoming room to the beginning of Airman's. I looked around for where I was supposed to go but every way looked way too small, so I headed back out.
We decided to look around some more, asking the girls if they knew where Airman's Cave was, specifically. They said no and seemed a little annoyed that we asked them again. Anyways, we walked down a little farther and came upon a girl and a guy standing next to another hole in the wall. I asked the girl if this was the cave and she said yes! The guy asked if I was Chris and I said yeah. I had found Jim and his girlfriend. I thought they had already gone in but they were waiting for me. So we talked a bit about the cave and what to expect. I had only brought a flashlight and some gloves. I was wearing only sweatpants and a short sleeveed shirt. Jim had a headlamp, kneepads and a huge backpack. I hoped I was ready. So I went in a ways to check out the keyhole and I freaked out! That was way too small! How could anyone get through there?? I started thinking there's no way I'm doing that. So I came back out. I procrastinated a bit while we talked about the cave and whatnot. Jim then informed me that I had to go first!!!! What???? He said he was too big and needed someone to pull him through. Damn. OK. So then I just thought "What the hell......" and said, "Alright, let's go." So in we went......
I threw my keys back out to James in case he wanted to go anywhere. Kara came in a ways with us to decide whether or not she would go in. I got down on my stomach and tried to control the claustrophobia. Putting my arms in front of me, I slowly inched my way forward, pushing with my feet and pulling on the sides of the tunnel. The sides of the tunnel were digging into my ribs! Ow! The claustophobia subsided almost completely when I got into the first small room. "I made it!" I yelled back. Kara was supposed to come next but freaked out and turned around. Then Jim told her we should be in about 3 hours, no more, and to call the cave police if we're not back by then. He brought his back pack with a lot of supplies and had to push it in front of him the whole time, which definitely had to be annoying. He finally got through with a little help from me at the end.
After the keyhole, there is a little room, which you exit over this hump, then crawl down into the first main "corridor". When I got there, I just relaxed and waited for Jim. It was pretty cool. I had made it in! We went to the left and looked around. We found a skull and bones which belonged to a small animal, probably a raccoon or something. There was a crawlway we could have gone down, but we didn't. I then realized we didn't have a map and then I remembered outside Jim had a map he had started himself. This was all we had?? Oh well, he's been in here before. So, we headed down towards the first crawl. Getting down on my stomach, I realized how this cave was gonna be. Mostly crawling on my stomach and knees. The ceiling was only a foot above my head! This was crazy I thought, but I kept going.
After crawling on our stomach for a ways, I found something on the ground. A flashlight! And one of those mag-lite types. And it worked! Jim remarked that one of the people he came with last time lost a flashlight. Oh well, it's mine now! I actually started using it too because it was smaller than the one I brought. Eventually we came to a place where we could crawl on our hands and knees. Then we had to go through another crawl! Well, gotta do it! This crawl was not so long though. After this crawl, we rested and drank some water. Then we were off again.
We could actually crouch and walk through he next part but that quickly changed to hands and knees. Then....damn it! Another crawl. After this crawl we rested in an other room. Someone left a glowstick wrapper on a rock nearby. A glowstick probably looked pretty cool inside the cave. So now. We came to a room that had multiple ways to go. We went the most obvious way and continued on.
We saw little triangles every so often on the walls which I guess were supposed to point in the right direction. But I couldn't really tell which way they were pointing! On we went up this little rocky passage then down and then we made a tight turn to the right. This was as far as Jim had gone. This semi-walking passage looked pretty cool. I went down it and then it branched left and kept straight. This definitely looked like One-Legged Man Passage to me. We went down a ways but then decided we were way too big for it. But we found a way around it to the left.
Taking this route turned out to be pretty hard. It was so small. It got so small that I had to turn my head sideways. It was here that I felt a draft from somewhere. I never did figure out where it came from though, but it felt good. So we made it through there and I think we took a break afterwards. Then we went on through more passageways and over this really tight, boulder spot and through some more semi-walking tunnels. We ended up in a semi-walking tunnel that went left and right then branched some more after that. I call it the Crossroads. We decided to stop here because we were getting pretty far without a map. After resting about 10 minutes, we headed back.
I was OK until the first time I had to crawl. Then I realized I was getting tired. Not too bad though. It took a little longer to get back though. We were in a little over three hours I think. Getting to the keyhole, we heard some people outside. We figured it had to be James and Kara. Jim went first so I could push him. Then I came through. I finally made it out into the sunshine and boy was I tired and dirty. We ate some snacks which Kara provided. It seems they had gone to Schlotzsky's. So after talking awhile about our trip, we headed back to the parking lot. We were discussing when to go in again, preferably next weekend. I said I would try and get some more people together for next time. So we said goodbye and that was it!
So that was my first trip into Airman's Cave. Driving home, I felt a sense of accomplishment and it felt pretty good. I knew I had to go in again, but with who? Then it came to me.....