Kartchner Caverns State Park

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After breakfast, I made a beeline from Tucson on I-10 to Kartchner Caverns State Park for the 9:00 am Rotunda/Throne Tour. (I had made reservations for the 10 am tour, but I was up early and wanted to get a head start on the day to add more time to my planned stop after Kartchner Caverns, and the State Parks reservations folks were happy to accommodate me.)

Kartchner Caverns State Park was established in 1988, some 14 years after the caverns were discovered by amateur spelunkers, Gary Tenen and Randy Tufts. They had kept the caverns secret for many years in order to protect them from unregulated use.

The Rotunda/Throne Tour was about an hour and half and was informative and educational. As the name of the tour implies, we visited the Rotunda and then the Throne Room, which has a large, five-story formation named "Kubla Khan" (photo included below). Unfortunately, cellphones were not allowed in the caverns, so I wasn't able to take any photos of the caverns on the tour. Instead, I have included a photo of the Throne Room from the park website.

"Kubla Khan" in the Throne Room
A map of the three main rooms of the caverns

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