Karchner Cavern-Yes, another cave!

So, before Ron & I took off on this great adventure, the only cave I can ever remember being in is the little one at the Boom Site on the St. Croix River.  Who'd have thought that I'd get kinda hooked (Ron, not so much) and go through 3 in less than 6 months. 

It helps that they are usually situated in beautiful mountainous areas with lots of hiking available.

And beautiful views of the valleys below.

Karchner Cavern was discovered in 1974, when 2 men found a sink hole (still there!) when they were trying to find shelter from a storm.  The change in air pressure during the storm caused air from the cavern to rush out through a small hole in the sink hole.  The men chipped out the rock enough so that they could squeeze through into the cavern.  They realized that it was a very unusual cave with so much decoration and tried to buy the land it was on.  The owners of the land were ranchers - the Karchners - who had owned the land for many generations, and would not sell.  The cavern was a secret until 1988 when the state of Arizona bought it for 1.5 million.  They put 36.5 million into developing it into an attraction that could be viewed by the public, but protected from any of the issues that have plagued other caverns open to viewing.

A tram took us up to the entrance to the cavern.  The tunnels into the cavern were carved over a period of 22 months.  There are a series of air lock doors to go through, and a misting area to reduce the amount of lint that we would shed (who'd have thought?)

It is a short journey compared to the other two caves, about 1/2 mile, but it is unique and highly decorated.  I learned a lot about the names of the formations.  This is a wet cave, actively making formations.  Unlike the other two, this one was hot & humid.

This is called "Bacon" drape.

Soda straws - we saw one that was 9 feet long!

"Drapery"

One of the things I loved about this cavern was the beautiful color.  There was a lot of red, gold, caramel veins in the white - and the active stalactites and stalagmites are translucent.

They call this a Shield -

This is the highlight of the tour.  It is a column (joined stalactite & stalagmite) that is 5 stories  high.  It is in the Rotunda, referred to as Xanadu, and they call the column "Kubla Khan".  The light show in this area is really awesome. 

Always fun to explore the area we are staying at.  It is surprising what we find! 

Hope everyone is watching the Super Bowl today.  Thankfully, the unusual rain we had (steady light rain Thursday thru Saturday) has moved out and it is gloriously sunny again.