We finally went and did one of the tours at Kartchner Caverns. When we passed through this area in 2000 it had only been open for a year and public tours did not start until November 2003 and there was a wait list of several months for tours.
They no longer allow picture taking on the tours so these pics came off the internet. The Cave was discovered in 1974 and the 2 men who found it worked with the Kartchner Family and the State to have it become a State Park to preserve the Cave and let the public enjoy it. It is one of the world's most pristine caves as 80% of the cave is untouched by human hands.
Kubla Khan is the tallest and most massive column in Arizona, at 58 feet.
It also has one of the world's longest soda straw stalactites: 21 feet 3 inches
We did the Rotunda / Throne room. We will save the Big Room tour for our next visit!
After the cave tour we drove to the Cochise Stronghold. This is where Cochise, leader of the Chiricahua Apache found shelter after the white settlers arrived in the area. It is situated in the Dragoon Mountains with tall bluffs and strange rock formations that offered protection and shelter. You are reminded of the old Westerns with cowboys hiding behind rocks and bullets ricocheting.
We follow the dirt road in and there is a campground at the end and a hiking trail.
We take the .5 mile nature trail
A very nice little hike.
Are you coming Mom?? We came across another trail head which was 1 mile to a Springs. We thought we'd hike just a little ways down as the sun was going down and it was getting chilly. We got about 50 feet down the path with Tucson leading the way when suddenly his ears went back, his tail went down and he turned around and hightailed it back out. Over the years we've learned that Dogs have more common sense than people so we opted out of that section.
Got home in time to do a walk under the full moon. Tucson did not howl so I guess we won't be changing his name to Coyote!
Till Later!
Meanwhile, we keep on Trek'n
Melissa, Gary & Tucson
3 comments:
Is this like the Bat Cave ? :)
Holy Stalagmite Robin! Batman would never reveal the true location of the Bat Cave - but It might look like this one!
awesome my friend miss ya hope we hook up in the future
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