The Underground Texas Grotto

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The Underground Texas Grotto

The Underground Texas Grotto is an Austin-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on cave exploration.

04/16/2026

The Brackenridge Field Lab welcomed us into one of their classrooms for a packed-house presentation by karat hydrogeologist and ordinary caver Dr. George Veni. We had 70 attendees, a pizza party, and a very gracious host. Thanks BFL for providing us a venue, and thanks to George for the excellent presentation!

04/04/2026

After a surreptitious winter break, we're back to digging up a storm, just in time for the spring rains to show us where the water goes. This feature is a new dig in our weekly rotation with a lot of potential. We have no idea what we'll discover down below, and we're excited to find out. The cave owner is an excellent host and is just as excited about their cave as we are. We'll shout them out next Tuesday when we return.

If you're interested in becoming a member or joining our weekly digs, come to a meeting and subscribe to the mailing list at UTgrotto.org.

See you underground!

11/22/2025

With Thanksgiving break sneaking up quicker every time we look away, this is a good opportunity to highlight Barton Springs University. This event is a public pop-up environmental education fair hosted by Save Our Springs where, for one day only, over a thousand students and civilians gain access to dozens of hands on activities, speakers, a concert, tables, and Taco Deli to learn about the many entities supporting conservation here in Austin. Among them, the UTG has attended for several years, always in full recruitment mode. At our station we were accompanied by Dr. Nico Hauwert with his artifical cave, teaching hydrogeology with a dye trace activity.
Big thanks to Greg, Izzy, Nico, as well as all the cave and groundwater professionals who work at the city and the county for rounding out the cave representation at BSU this year.

11/03/2025

Under the cover of darkness, a congregation of grotto members shuffled down a steep pathway to conduct our yearly Halloween rites deep within the earth.

After what felt like an appropriate amount of chanting, we recited scripture from Karst of the Urban Corridor ($20 at the TSS store), asked a magic 8 ball how many new members we should expect in the coming year, and took a group picture. To close our meeting, legendary UTG caver Terry Raines told the tale of first exploring the palatial cave chambers we were standing in.

We're ever grateful to Inner Space Cavern for hosting our annual meeting and we encourage you to stop by for a tour. It's a beautiful show cave hiding beneath I-35.

Shout out to Ace, our guide for the evening, thank you for working after hours and for showing us a great time. And to our dear Enzo, current club president and former Inner Space guide, thank you for coordinating and existing.

10/29/2025

UTG members attended the 10th annual Hydro-Geo Workshop to volunteer, teach modules, and most importantly to learn! This weekend event is an awesome opportunity for students, a great venue for presenting research, and a rewarding way to spend a weekend for everybody else. Bexar Grotto members like Geary Schindel are instrumental in organizing the workshop hosted at Cave Without a Name and cavers from all all over the state show up to help.

These photos of the keynote presentation, cave biology module, wild cave tour, camping tutorial, and astronomy lesson just scratch the surface of the opportunities at Hydro-Geo. Whether you're interested in geophysics, bird identification, or how to change a tire, there's something for everybody! Look out for announcements for next year.

08/13/2025

Few sights underground are cooler than watching kids experiencing it for the first time. Most of them will have had their fill and move on, but for one or two, this trip may have sparked a lifelong interest. It's a privilege to facilitate the next generation discovering their passions, fields of study, or careers.

I got more out of this trip than altruistically kindling an appreciation for nature in the minds of America's youth, though. I also learned a lot of new slang. "These kneepads have level 10 rizz," for instance. I.. would have never thought to say that. The future is bright.

06/17/2025

Aaron and I represented UTG at the Vertical Training Commission Level 1 course in San Antonio this past weekend. You can't perfectly simulate the challenges of vertical caving outside of a cave, but 1.5 million mosquitos and an oppressive heat index provided the right conditions for learning under pressure. It was a great group of students, and we're grateful to Geary, Matt, and Chris, the paltry few VTC trainers we currently have in Texas for putting the event on. Plans are in the works for an Austin class later in the year. We'll miss out on the mosquitos by then, but maybe we can get rained on or something.

06/13/2025

The official start to summer is barreling toward Texas, which means tabling season is upon us! Fortunately, this weekend, our table was inside so we could ease into the heat. We answer as many invites as we can, and events like Discovery Day at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center are at the top of our list. While crowds of parents circled up their wagons of karst curious kids to loose volleys of cave questions at our fearless officers, some of us slipped out the back door to lead a sinkhole tour around the property, sharing the science and allure of the karst features beneath our feet, and soon after that concluded, I went to collect my prize for longest run-on sentence. If you're a could-be, would-be or should be caver of any age or creed, come visit our table. We've got rocks to pet and cave trips to take you on.

06/07/2025

Happy National Caves and Karst Day! We were too busy celebrating that we barely got the post out. We're very grateful for our community, but on this, the holiest of days, we also express enormous gratitude for the special places we are privileged to visit, to the creatures that call it home, and to the inland sea 90 million years ago that made it all possible.

05/13/2025

Somewhere in the hill country, one of our up-and-coming cavers, Cole, pushed through a barely Cole-sized crawlway at the bottom of a pit and was rewarded by a very Cole-sized room with potential to continue, during a recent survey trip. Leave no leads unchecked and follow the air.

04/02/2025

PC: Angela Young

Vertebrate paleontologist, grotto member, and gracious answerer of all my paleontology questions, John Moretti defended his thesis yesterday, covering work he's done studying vertebrate remains at Inner Space Cavern and other bone deposits in central Texas caves. John's defense was the culmination of years of research, and his measured, captivating, and witty presentation was met with a well-deserved standing ovation. At least it sounded like the people inside stood up; I listened through the door because I got there late. Thankfully, a UTG correspondent on the inside took a picture of the action.
Our community is richer for having Dr. Moretti in it, for his generosity with his time and knowledge, and we're excited to stay tuned for upcoming discoveries!

03/31/2025

A joint task force of UT Grotto and Bexar Grotto cavers joined forces to es**rt scientists
into Devil's Sinkhole to collect data for geologic, biologic, paleoclimatologic, photographic, and cartographic projects. Thanks to that last sentence, I have hit my word count for this post. Thanks to Geary Schindel for herding cavers and to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for making the trip possible.

Address

Austin, TX

Telephone

+15123501469

Website

http://Utgrotto.org/

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