Desporado Ranch
How
it all
started
One of the first caves found on the property was a system that had been explored in the late 80’s know as Golden Fawn. Matt and his team explored it the best they could, but when they posted their initial video about it, the comments section exploded. Hundreds of viewers started tagging experienced cavers and YouTube explorers—hoping someone would step in and help figure out exactly what was underground.
Among the names mentioned, the team and I kept coming up. Eventually, Matt reached out and invited us to check things out in person.
We made our first trip out there at the end of 2023. Initially, it was just to get a feel for the land and see what this “Golden Fawn” cave was all about. What we didn’t expect was to discover two entirely new cave systems and realize that none of these caves had ever been mapped.
That first trip kicked off what would become a full-blown exploration and mapping project—and one of the most exciting, unexpected collaborations I’ve ever been a part of.
In 2023, Matt Carriker—better known online as Demolition Ranch—posted a video on his second channel announcing that he had purchased an abandoned resort property in Texas. His plan? To restore it and eventually turn it into a massive event venue.
What he didn’t realize at the time was that his land held more than just decaying buildings—it also hid several caves.
Matt had never been a caver before, nor had he been in one. So the discovery came as a huge surprise—and an exciting one. Naturally, he began documenting the entire journey on YouTube, starting with the channel then known as Matt Carriker (later renamed Off the Ranch and later back to Matt Carriker).
The incident
During our first full exploration of Golden Fawn, we discovered a short, nearly-submerged passage—what’s known as a ceiling sucker—leading to an air pocket on the other side. My now best friend Jacob Sword (aka Mineral Dude) was ahead of me during the push, but slightly missed the air space and panicked. In trying to retreat, he unintentionally shoved me under while also struggling himself. The entire moment was raw, real, and completely unstaged.
The video, titled “Caver Panics And Almost Drowns,” became the most viral thing I’ve ever posted—sitting at over 5.6 million views. To be honest, I was hesitant to upload it at all. It was demonetized, and I wasn’t thrilled about sharing something so intense, but when everyone else involved began posting their footage, I figured I might as well too. It’s still the closest I’ve come to serious danger in a cave. Jacob handled it better than most first-timers would have—especially for his first ceiling sucker—and he’s since become one of the most solid caving partners I have. We almost wrecked on the drive to Texas, so I told him we were even afterwards. PLEASE CAVE SAFELY AND RESPONSIBLY
Watch it here
Redemption
We returned to Desperado Ranch at the start of 2024 with a mission. The first trip had only been five days—barely enough time to scratch the surface of what was there—so this time we came back for ten. We knew more. We brought better gear. We had leads, unfinished business, and a drive to make something out of this weird, wild property. One of our main goals was to revisit Golden Fawn, drain it again, and see if the dig at the back would go. We also came prepared to properly map everything, dig into leads from an old property map, and figure out which known cave had been filled in decades earlier by farmers.
This second trip was different for me—not just logistically, but mentally. I had some distance from the content-driven chaos of the first run, and I wanted to approach this one with more intention and focus. I made it a point to stay grounded in the science and the goals of the trip: get the data, do the mapping, and see if we could discover anything new through ridge-walking and verification. One of the pits we thought might be the buried cave turned out to be nothing, but we did everything we could to chase down that lead. No new caves this time—but we confirmed, mapped, and documented every single cave on the property that was worth the name.
The highlight was Golden Fawn. We brought in a sump pump with tubing, rigged a siphon system, and monitored the air to safely drain the water back far enough to access the tight submerged passage again. It’s not a recommended method for casual cavers, but it worked—and it gave us just enough clearance to breathe and push. At the back, we went after the dig we had been planning since the first trip. I led the push and successfully broke through, nearly doubling the known length of Golden Fawn in the process. It was the most technical and satisfying moment of the whole project—and one of the few times I’ve been able to come back to a cave and finish what I started.
Matt had organized a massive event—Booty Snapple Fest—to coincide with the solar eclipse, so there was a strange blend of scientific focus and surface-level chaos. Unfortunately, the weather rolled in and clouded the eclipse out, but for me, the trip was still a win. We’d already done what we came for. I got to map beautiful, untouched cave passages, rig and rappel the deepest pit on the property (just shy of 100 feet), and check off every major goal we set going in. This time, it wasn’t about a viral clip or a surprise incident. It was about closure, contribution, and leaving with a full picture—maps, data, and everything we could squeeze out of the rock.
Caves of the desperado
