The old Mount Bonnell Cave is a cave which many oldtimers remember. However this Mount Bonnell Cave has been long forgotten and overlooked despite being located in a hot tourist destination. This news article will explain what Mount Bonnell Cave in Austin, Texas is. 
Mount Bonnell Cave is a cave located on a cliffside underneath Mount Bonnell. Mount Bonnell Cave goes several hundred yards back under a hill.
The Austin American-Statesman reported that Mount Bonnell Cave is about 40 feet deep and winding for some distance through the limestone, that is said to have afforded a hiding place for the early settlers of that section when the Indians chased Anglo settlers from their homes. This cave opens from a sink hole in a level pasture and is noted for its beautiful stalactites and stalagmites. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/366249784/)
However a report composed by the Texas Speleological Survey in 1963 called Caves Of Travis County indicated that Mount Bonnell Cave is nothing more than a short crawl to a dead end and being located on the slopes of Mount Bonnell. (Ref: https://www.texasspeleologicalsurvey.org/PDF/TSS_Volume1/TSS%201(1)%20compressed.pdf)
The history of Mount Bonnell Cave begins in the early-to-mid 19th century when George W. Bonnell and frontiersman William A. A. Wallace came to Texas with others to fight for Texas independence in 1836.
Frontiersman William A. A. Wallace ("Bigfoot") killed an Indian he met face to face while crossing a narrow ledge 50 feet on Mount Bonnell above the Colorado River in 1839. William A. A. Wallace discovered Mount Bonnell Cave in 1839 when he took refuge recover from "flux". He took refuge in a Mount Bonnell cave to recover from "flux". (Ref: https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=158887)
Years after he had taken refuge in Mount Bonnell Cave on Mount Bonnell, when asked why he had chosen the cave as a refuge, he responded "Well ... the cave was right on the old Indian trail leading down to Austin, and I thought I would be able to keep my hand in by 'upping' one now and then; and besides, the cave was in the best hunting ground for bear in all this country..." (Ref: Indian Depredations in Texas, p. 665)
According to txcompost (Trails and Tales of Old Austin and Travis County), Mount Bonnell Cave was right on the old Indian trail leading down to Austin. (Ref: http://txcompost.blogspot.com/2014/03/mount-bonnells-american-indian-trail.html)
Another famous cave oldtimers say is one under Mount Bonnell Cave. Very few people know the location of the entrance to this cave, which was discovered entirely by accident. According to the story told by the discoverers, they were climbing down the face of Mount Bonnell one day when one of them slipped over a ledge and rolled for some distance. The other secured a rope and followed his companion. On a small ledge they discovered the cave, entered it and followed it for several hundred yards back under a hill. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/366249784/)
Mount Bonnell Cave is located somewhere on 3800 Mount Bonnell Road, Austin, Texas, US 78731.
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