04/13/2025
Great place
Longhorn Cavern State Park—a limestone labyrinth that’s pure Lone Star magic! Carved over eons by an underground river through 400-million-year-old Ellenburger limestone, this cave sits 11 miles southwest of Burnet off U.S. Hwy 281, near Lake Buchanan. Native tribes like the Tonkawa and Comanche sheltered here for millennia—arrowheads and bones prove it—while legends whisper of Sam Bass stashing outlaw loot in its depths. Opened as a state park in 1932, it’s a 639-acre marvel, with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) chiseling trails and stairs from 1934-1937 to make its 1.1-mile tour a breeze—68°F year-round, $17 adults, kids half-price.
This isn’t just a cave—it’s a Texas time capsule. Spanish explorers dodged it, but by the 1860s, Confederate troops mined bat guano here for gunpowder—niter-rich p**p was gold in the Civil War. The 1920s turned it wilder: a speakeasy and dance hall thumped under chandeliers, with locals sipping moonshine to ragtime beats. The CCC hauled out 2,500 truckloads of rubble, revealing crystal chambers like the Queen’s Throne and calcite wonders—no stalactites, just smooth flowstone from its river days. Today, 52,000 visitors yearly trek its lit paths, spotting rare bats or booking wild cave tours to crawl tight spots—helmets on, $100 a pop.
From prehistoric hideout to Prohibition party spot, it’s a geological star—pair it with Inks Lake hikes or Gorman Falls nearby.
