Our main focus would be on Kartchner Caverns, but before going there, we visited Colossal Cave.
The Visitor Center is a rock building that you view across the valley before your arrival.
On the patio was a statue of a CCC workman representing the men who did the work on the cave and Visitor Center in the 1930’s.
Going through the entrance to the park, they rejected our Golden Age Pass, telling us that it is “county owned.” The county needs to put some money into this tourist attraction. The road was in terrible condition and the cave itself was obviously a low priority to the county, which was a shame as it could have been so much more.
Before we went in they warned us that the cave pathway contained 356 steps. My new knees began to shake and get weak at hearing those numbers. However, they had already taken our money and…
…a colossal cave is a Colossal Cave, so in we went through the black hole.
Just as we entered, another tour was coming out. A man in the group was puffing and straining, commenting that he had “two new knees.” Well, join the club! At least he made it so I figured I could too. Thankfully, the steps were in stops and starts, not in one long painful stairway, so I did fine.
From the walkway in this cave, the spaces are smaller in most places than what we have seen in Kartchner Caverns, not claustrophobically tight, just closer.
When the man who bought this property to turn it into a tourist attraction found this cave it had been entered by many people for a number of years. They did a tremendous amount of damage to it.
Virtually all the stalactites hanging from the ceiling had been broken off for souvenirs.
In spite of the damage, there were still beautiful cave decorations.
There were many different formations in the cave including this large flow stone formation.
After Colossal Cave, we moved on to bigger and better caves.
Kartchner Caverns State Park is just south of Benson and only a few miles from our RV Park. As far as we are concerned it is the crown jewel of caves, at least of the ones we have visited. We have been here twice before on other trips but never tire of seeing it again.
The story of Kartchner Caverns is amazing and I will only give you a snippet of it. It was discovered by two college students back in 1974 who were cavers (spelunkers). They were looking around the hills, knowing that the geology of the area could lend itself to possible caves.
After finding this cave (not knowing at all what they had really discovered) they kept it a secret for 17 years lest others would come in and destroy it as they had seen done many times before. (See what happened to Colossal Cave.) Finally they notified the Kartchner family who owned the land and eventually it was made into a State Park.
The state went to great lengths to protect the cave. Concrete walkways (with no steps) were put through the cave and are washed down every night to remove impurities that might damage the cave.
Entry to the cave means you walk through an area that sprays a fine mist on everyone to remove lint that is unhealthy for the cave environment. (It also removes hairdos. Just sayin.’)
However, inside it is spectacular. There are no cameras, purses, cell phones or water bottles allowed inside, so needless to say, I got my photos off the web.
Thin stalactites, called soda straws hang from the ceiling everywhere. They are about the thickness of an actual soda straw and have water that slowly drips down through them causing them to grow at amazingly slow paces.
The many minerals in the cave that water flows through, results in formations in many colors and designs. This is called “Cave Bacon” for obvious reasons.
Stalactites of varying thicknesses hang from the ceiling and stalagmites grow up from the floor. There are some formations found here that are not found is any other caves in the world. This is considered one of the Top Ten Caves in the World.
This formation is called Kubla Khan it is 58 feet tall. There is a caver at the bottom which gives you a feel for how large this actually is. It also gives you an idea of how high the ceiling is in this cave.
These formations area called draperies.
At Kartchner Caverns there are two tours, The Big Room and the Throne Room. Each is one hour and forty-five minutes long. We saw the Throne Room one day and the Big Room the next day. They are both absolutely spectacular. The Throne Room is our favorite. Reservations are required and we highly recommend the visit.
By the way. I think God had an absolute blast making this cave!
Next is the Amarind Museum and Gammon’s Gulch.
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