Friday under ground

We woke up this morning, smack in the middle of a sucker hole!   A bit windy, but sunshine and warmth.  We weren't fooled though.  We knew what was coming by the huge cloud front forming.

Because of the imminent weather, we'd planned to drive about 45 minutes to Kartchner Caverns for an almost 2 hour underground tour.  These caverns were only recently discovered (in 1974) and have been turned into an Arizona State Park for the protection of this precious, virgin wonder.  Eighty percent of the caverns have never felt a human footfall.    One "room" is host to a nursery colony of bats each April through October and are closed to the public then.  At this time of  year, the bats are elsewhere so we were privy to the fantastic and unbelievable grotto.

We were a little group, about 15 people, and we boarded a small, electric tram to climb to the entrance to the cave.  We were led by a ranger, and followed by another one.  We couldn't bring anything on the tour with us, no cameras, no water bottles, no purses, nothing.   If we had a jacket, we were instructed in the proper way to roll it inside out into a tube and then tie it to our waists, so as to not let any lint into the rarefied air.  We walked through a mist to bring our bodies humidity up to that of the caverns, so that we wouldn't take any moisture from them, or change them in any way.  These caves are still forming and it is very important to not interfere in their life.   The ranger/guide leader turned on lights as we approached an area, then the "tailgunner" ranger turned them off as we passed through.   I so wished we could spend more time in the passages and rooms.   The tour was informative and very interesting, but it moved along too fast for me to really look around and absorb the astonishing surroundings.  I just wanted to stand in one place and take it all in.

It was very warm and (sorry, Erin.....) moist as we walked through the Big Room.  While we were seated  in one area listening to some very interesting information about the bat colony, I got the distinct impression that the cave was trying to turn me into a stalagmite....water dripped onto the top of my head from a soda straw stalactite high above me!

A few very humble impressions of our remarkable day beneath the mountains....

Kartchner Caverns are beneath these two mountains

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There were no cameras allowed inside the caverns - a good thing and a bad thing.  Good for the ecology of these natural wonders and good because it allowed us to really experience  our surroundings without trying to frame the "perfect" shot.    Bad because you all get to see only the pictures hung in the Discovery Center above the caverns....for that I'm sorry.  It was an incredible experience I wish you could have all shared with us.


On the drive home, the skies opened and it poured.  Good side of that was we saw a beautiful rainbow over the mountains.   As a matter of fact, it was a double rainbow, but I couldn't get a shot of them together as we hurtled down I-10.....