They no longer allow picture taking on the tours so these pics came off the internet. The Cave was discovered in1974 and the 2 men who found it worked with the Kartchner Family and the State to have it become a State Park to preserve the Cave and let the public enjoy it. It is one of the world's most pristinecaves as 80% of the cave is untouched by human hands.
This bell canopy is in the Rotunda-Throne Room formed by water flowing over a bump on the wall, then dripping to create this beautiful formation
Kubla Khanis the tallest and most massive column in Arizona, at 58 feet.
It also has one of the world's longest soda straw stalactites: 21 feet 3 inches
We did the Rotunda / Throne room. We will save the Big Room tour for our next visit!
After the cave tour we drove to the Cochise Stronghold. This is where Cochise, leader of the Chiricahua Apache found shelter after the white settlers arrived in the area. It is situated in the Dragoon Mountains with tall bluffs and strange rock formations that offered protection and shelter. You are reminded of the old Westerns with cowboys hiding behind rocks and bullets ricocheting.
We follow the dirt road in and there is a campground at the end and a hiking trail.
We take the .5 mile nature trail
A very nice little hike.
Are you coming Mom?? We came across another trail head which was 1 mile to a Springs. We thought we'd hike just a little ways down as the sun was going down and it was getting chilly. We got about 50 feet down the path with Tucson leading the way when suddenly his ears went back, his tail went down and he turned around and hightailed it back out. Over the years we've learned that Dogs have more common sense than people so we opted out of that section.
Got home in time to do a walk under the full moon. Tucson did not howl so I guess we won't be changing his name to Coyote!
Till Later!
Meanwhile, we keep on Trek'n
Melissa, Gary & Tucson
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