St. Stephen's Caving Team Explores Famous Austin Cave

The St. Stephen’s Devil’s Canyon Caving Team captains which include, Upper School students Felix Eugene, Vivian Chatterjee, Hana Hassibi, Michael Garcia, and Rex Gilliland, and Cordelia Ross––one of their coaches––joined members of the UT Grotto, Ethan Perrine, Holly Klein, and Liz Frank to explore the City of Austin’s Goat Cave Karst Nature Preserve in South Austin.

Austin, a well-known Karst region––an area where water has eroded limestone to create cavities–– is home to many caves including the eight-acre Preserve. 

Escaping the heat to exercise their caving skills before the start of the season, the group of cavers rappelled underground to explore the cave. Inside, the explorers found milky white formations, cave crickets, pseudoscorpions, historical graffiti, and cooler air, as the cave stays around a delightful 72 degrees year round.

“One of my favorite parts of the trip was Ethan’s impromptu talk about the different insects that [are] native to Travis County caves,” said Felix Eugene. 

As an accomplished speleologist and cave photographer, Ethan provided a whole new perspective on the troglophiles that make Goat their home. 

“The calcite formations were very impressive if you put in the work to find them and the pseudoscorpions were really fascinating,” said Rex Gilliland.

The group spent about an hour underground before it was time to return to the dreaded heat above ground.