Mar 062011
I visited Kartchner Caverns today. Kartchner Caverns State Park is a fairly new park as the caverns were only discovered in 1974 with the Arizona park system purchasing the property in 1988. The upper caverns were opened to the public in 1999 with the lower caverns opening in 2003.
The only way to view the caverns is with a guided tour. Since this is a "living" cavern they are attempting to keep human impact as minimal as possible. There are triple air lock doors that are used for entry and exit. They even ask that you do not touch anything and if you do to notify them so they can make the spot so it can be cleaned that evening. Picture taking is also not allowed so I was not able to get any pictures. If you would like to see some pictures you can visit the State Parks web site. The picture above if from that web site.
Two tours are available and I took the "Big Room" tour. It took a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes. About 30 minutes was an introduction and history lesson on the caverns with the remaining underground. The "Big Room" tour is only available in the winter while the bats are away (they go south for the winter). There are no bats in the "Rotunda/Throne" area so that tour is available year round.
The tour was great and the volunteer tour guide pointed out many features that I most likely would have missed otherwise. While not as big as Carlsbad Caverns I highly recommend visiting Kartchner Caverns. Some of the unique features makes it a must see destination.
In case you don't know, most state parks use volunteers for many of the park's positions. The vast majority are not paid and the only compensation they get is a free campsite for the duration of their stint. Without these dedicated volunteers most of these parks would close. One lady that was a tour guide has been doing it every year for the past 10 years so you can see that they really enjoy their duties. Be sure to thank them for their service the next time you visit a state park.