Kartchner Caverns

We visited the caverns with friends Jim and Shirley, touring the largest cavern on the 13th, “The Big Room” and the smaller one “The Throne Room or Rotunda” on the 19th. The tours are fairly costly but well worth the price. Kartchner Caverns is a State Park so a fee for entrance to the park has to be paid then the cost of the tour, smaller cavern is 18.95, large cavern 22.95 per person. The tour begins at the Discovery Centre where a short video is shown in a lovely theatre, explaining how the caves were discovered, some pictures and information regarding the care and preservation practices that were undertaken while the caverns were prepared for public viewing. After viewing the video there are many interpretive displays to investigate as well as a very nice little store and a small café named “The Bat Cave”. We did not make reservations for the tour of “The Big Room” until we arrived at the park so we had time to wander, grab a bite to eat at the café, food was very good, all freshly prepared and of course Shirley and I had to check out the store. The proceeds from sales at the store help support the park so we were pleasantly surprised to find reasonably priced good quality unique items, eco friendly items, example t-shirts made from fibres of old t-shirts along with samples of “how they create new fibre from old t-shirts”, many gems, books, DVD’s, CD’s relating to caving and the Caverns along with the usual mugs, hats, calendars etc. I purchased a book with some nice pictures and information after our tour of the second cavern.



A catus with interesting growth, the area around the Discovery Centre is very nicely landscaped, many plants are named, there are many species of sage growing in the gardens.

Shirley and I along with Jim and Woody wandered around the gardens, it was a very nice day.

There are benches placed along the paths as well a large covered picnic area.

Entrance to the caverns photographed from the garden area with telephoto lens.

The tours are booked every 20 or 30 minutes all day (depending on which cavern) and led by a knowledgeable, informative volunteer guide as well a volunteer who follows the group. The tour begins with the guide explaining the rules, and how careful we must be while in the cavern to not damage the cavern, we then take a ride on a tram passing the original sink hole where the 2 cavers crawled though and found the caverns and up to the parking area close to the cavern. After disembarking from the tram the guide explained that we would be entering through several sets of sealed doors to keep the inside air out, as we entered the second tunnel the guide explained how to fold our jackets so the jacket would not flap and create more lint than necessary as well so that our coat sleeves would not accidentally touch any of the formations or rock walls. The caverns are very warm and moist; we also walk through an area where we are misted with water which is done so our very dry bodies and cloths will not suck any moisture from the caverns and it also assists with keeping lint from floating around. We were very impressed by the care that is taken to preserve these caverns, they are living caverns, which is very unique, from the beginning to end these caverns are awesome and one just cannot explain the jaw dropping effect that happens when viewing the formations in the caverns. For more information and a few pictures click on the links below. No cameras are allowed in the caverns as well as any other loose items, as in food, water bottles, etc. There is a good reason for that, as people dropped their cameras over the rail, set up tripods on the rocks, dropped sunglasses, etc. when the first tourists were allowed to bring in such items.
There are a couple of videos on this site, they are good but cannot compare to visiting in person.
http://azstateparks.com/Parks/KACA/science.html
http://www.amwest-travel.com/awt_kartchner.html
http://tourcochisecounty.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/kartchner-caverns/

We enjoy the company of Jim and Shirley very much, they are fun, easy going, interesting people to spend time with. We will miss them very much, they are leaving on Thursday and said they will not be back in AZ next year but invited us to come and visit them in MN which we would love to do hopefully next year on our trip home.

Patagonia State Park and other stops

Today we took the scenic route (HWY 82) to Nogales and see what we could see. A couple of Coues deer crossed the road in front of us but they darted into the thick bush along side the highway quickly and Woody could not get any pictures. It is a beautiful drive with views of grassy plains with mountains in the background then up into the mountains where the landscape changes dramatically from grassy plains to hillsides covered with various bushes, trees and cacti with views of valleys as we drove south winding our way up over and around the mountains.

Close up of the rock formation in the above picture, I love all the colour and different formations.

We decided a visit to Patagonia Lake State Park would be our first stop, one of three lakes in the area, a small park with a fairly large marina, small campground, visitor centre, store and of course the 265 acre man made lake that is home to many species of fish; provides the opportunity for water skiing and other water sports, although there are restrictions on weekends due to the number of people the lake attracts. Lake Patagonia sits in a valley surrounded by small mountains. The lake was created by the damming of Sonoita Creek in 1968 and The State Park was officially opened April 1, 1975. For more information on the park click on the link.
http://azstateparks.com/parks/PALA/index.html

A view of the arch bridge as we walk towards the lake.

The lake is bigger than it first appears in this picture.

Looking the opposite way.

From another view of the lake.

There were a few ducks floating around enjoying the nice day.

A boat coming out of the marina onto the main body of the lake. The arch bridge in the background.

Prickly Pear catus with a hint of pink.

The park sits in a large valley, can only view a small portion of the lake from the road on the way back to the main road. This picture is zoomed in on the camera.

Another view of the valley.

Not sure where the gravel road ends up, we didn't check it out.

We continued south to Nogales, AZ just to take a look, of course it was New Years Day; we had the dogs with us so did not stop anywhere interesting in the city and plan to go back to visit this historic city. As with the rest of southern Arizona the Spanish were among the first non natives to inhabit this area as early as 1539 and there are many ghost towns in the area due to mines running out of gold and other precious metals. Nogales was named by the Spanish for the groves of walnut trees that grew abundantly on the mountain sides and was eventually split when the Gladsen Purchase was completed, creating the border between Mexico and Arizona, and splitting Nogales; Nogales, AZ was incorporated in 1893.
http://www.arizona-leisure.com/nogales-arizona.html

On the way home we drove down the main street in Patagonia, a small town of around 800 people and as with most of these little towns, after the mines shut down and the railroads discontinued trips through the town the town almost disappeared. Patagonia became a town for artists, bird watchers has some great restaurants and a theatre, it is a nicely kept little town. For more information click on the link:
http://www.patagoniaaz.com/history.html

A view of main shopping area of Patagonia.

This building was right across from where we parked, a couple of the stores were open but we did not do any shopping.

A look down the street in the opposite direction.








The whole trip was around 200 km (127 miles) and we plan on going back to visit again.