Sam And Saundra's Second Time Around - Part 37

Sam And Saundra’s Second Time Around – Part 37

Arizona

3/1/11-3/15/11 – Tucson and Kartchner Caverns

Sam and I made reservations to tour Kartchner Caverns. The caverns are located 40 miles away, near Benson, Arizona in the Whetstone Mountains. We got there early, as they have great hiking paths, educational information, theatre and many, many displays.  We walked, read, listened, touched and learned – all before we even entered the caves.  We opted for the Big Room tour, leaving the Throne Room for another visit. 

Cactus

Friend?

To get from the main entrance building to the caverns entrance, you must get on a tram.  It weaves around and our tour guide begins to give us information.  Lots of interesting information.  We pass the sink hole that gave the discoverer a hint that something weird had happened at this site.  The guide tells us that the opening was extremely small and that even after being widened, it was only the size of a wire coat hanger. Skinny dude! We get to go through a man-made entrance that has several ‘doors’ to keep contamination of all sorts to a minimum. This is amazing and you need to hear and see all the good stuff for yourself.  Cameras not allowed.  The caverns get first priority here.  Then the bats. I do have to say that the one big thing I learned, was that people who go hunt caverns the world over are generally hungry people.  Probably due to having to stay skinny so that they don’t get stuck in tiny places under tons and tons and tons of heavy rocks and earth and it is dark down there. Very dark.  So keeping skinny is a priority.  The reason I am sure of this, is due to the names that they have given to various cavern formations.  Fried Eggs, Bacon, Turnips, Strawberry Flowstone, Popcorn and Wayward and Rebellious Fettuccini, are just a few.  Tell me those cavers aren’t always hungry.

During the tour we stopped and waited.  Blank minds, silent feet, mouths at full rest – we waited.  Waited and then … Kerplink!  One drop of water made it from (?) somewhere under that desert foothill and onto a formation that those particularly placed drops had started creating long years ago.  We all clapped.  This formation was a Fried egg.  It was tubular shaped – a roundish 4-5 inch diameter, with a top that looked like a ‘fried egg’. The yolk supposedly made of crystaline of some sort.  I say – cool! – even though it was very warm. To a novice cave dweller like me, the Big Room looks like several inter-connected rooms.  But they all share the same ceiling. Between here and there and then and now, some of the ceiling has fallen.  I was not scared.  Nope not even a little – even with the recent earthquakes we felt in Yuma.  But then – my attention is easily diverted.  Look at those soda straws!  Longest ones around!

 

These caverns are newbies in the cavern world.  They were discovered in 1974, not opened to the public until 1996 and are still ‘alive’, growing and forming.  Human contact around and in the caverns are controlled to protect them, hopefully to insure continued growth, as well as the safety of their regular inhabitants – the bats.  We thoroughly enjoyed the tour.  The caverns temperature is around 70 degrees year round and quite humid – so no jackets/sweaters are required. There is so much to see and take in at these caverns.  I recommend checking them out on the internet – then get down there to see them.  Awesome!! We will return.