Three hour drive today to get to a new state (Arizona, our first time in this state) and our next state park: Kartchner Caverns. We will be at Kartchner for a week, including our first green/warm Christmas ever!
We chose Kartchner because: (i) they had sites available over the Christmas holidays; (ii) we want to stay south and keep moving west; and (iii) the cave tours looked interesting. It turns out that this was a good choice as we narrowly missed the big snow storm that enveloped most of the USA, including southern Texas which was an alternative destination for us.
Weather during the storm was a bit cooler (32°F at night, 40-45°F during the day), but stayed bright and sunny (actually felt hot in the sun).
The campground is situated in a flat valley right next to some small mountains (mesas) and hills. Lots of large mesquite trees in the park…
… and some of the largest prickly pear cactus grouping I have ever seen.
The Kartchner caverns were discovered by two amateur spelunkers in 1974. The land was owned by the Kartchner family and was eventually sold to the Arizona state government on the condition that the caves were to be kept in pristine condition.
The state has gone to great lengths to protect these caves. No photography. Multiple hermetically sealed entrance doors. Visitors are sprayed with a water mist to maintain the humidity levels within the caves. LED lights are turned on when visitors enter a section of the cave and turned off when they leave. Only guided tours are offered, no wandering around on your own (not that you would want to as it is very dark when the lights are off, as demonstrated by one of our tour guides).
Visitors are told not to touch anything. If you accidentally brush against anything in the cave, the incident must immediately be reported to the park ranger guiding the tour and the offender will be forcibly ejected from the premises and heavily fined. Just kidding… the tour guide will mark the location and someone will come and gently clean the area of contact.
The walkways are specifically designed to facilitate cleaning (once every two weeks) and water from this cleaning is piped out of the cave.
Parts of the cave are closed in the summer months when bats come back to roost and raise their young.
There are two separate tours: The Big Room, and Rotunda/Throne Room. We split up, so that one of us could stay in the trailer with the dogs while the other went on a tour. We did both tours and they were great. We each had one great tour guide for the Big Room, and the same really bad tour guide for the Rotunda/Throne Room tour. In both cases the caves were in pristine condition and made for great viewing.
In the nearby town of Bisbee there is a mine that offers tours. The tour guides are all ex-mine workers and have great stories of working in an operating mine. To get into the mine, you are loaded onto seat-carts which are then pulled into the mine. A really great experience! (here is someone else’s video which gives a good overview of the tour).
Bisbee itself has a very quirky vibe, and seems to be where a lot of hippies from the 60’s ended up!
We arrived on December 20th, so not a lot of time for Christmas preparations – dogs would not forgive us if Santa didn’t make a visit. Our options for holiday shopping are Walmart, Dollar Store and Amazon. We have never used the “Amazon Hub Locker” delivery method before, so I thought I would give it a go.
Amazon has set up lockers across the country that you can set as a delivery location, so I picked a location not too far away and let my fingers do the shopping. The delivery date was December 23 by 9pm. On December 24 the tracking info said “delivered”, but I had still not received the email from Amazon which was supposed to tell me the locker number and access code. Enquiring on Amazon chat, a singularly unhelpful rep told me “you will get it when you get it” and then terminated the chat session. Not exactly the response I was hoping for on the day before Christmas.
I decided to go to the convenience store where the Amazon Hub Locker was located to see if anyone at the store could help me. Arriving at the store, I saw the Hub Lockers outside, and yes indeed, you do need a locker number and access code. Inside the store, while waiting in line at the cash, I noticed a couple of Amazon boxes precariously perched on top of a soda pop display. One of the boxes had a splodge of some sticky substance, but the delivery labels had my name on them! I took the boxes to the cashier, expecting to have to show ID, and was waved off with a “whatever” response. Glad I got to the boxes before anyone else picked them up. Thankful that my next stop was not the Dollar Store (for emergency prezzies) I scooted back to the campground. Enough excitement for me today.
A few years ago we discovered that our dogs seem to like opening boxes more than they like any toys that may be inside the boxes, so now we only give them boxes… with a couple of dog treats in each box.
Here is our Christmas tree of prezzies for the dogs.
Unleash the krackens…
After the carnage…
The park campground is very well maintained. Showers/restrooms are excellent. All the roads and campsites are freshly paved. The park must make a lot of money from the cave tours to pay for all of this. Tours are $23 per person. 15-20 people per tour. There are 8-10 tours per day, 7 days per week. Each tour last about 1.5 hours.
As our campsite is paved (just where we park, not the whole site) I decide now would be a great time to do the wiring upgrade the fridge (as I mentioned in an earlier post the wiring that was installed for the original plate cooler is too small for the new compressor fridge). A new wire run is required under the trailer, so not having to crawl around in mud or dirt makes this a good time to get it done. Four or five hours later and the new circuit is in place. Flip the switch and… it actually works. No smoke, sparks or flames. The fridge compressor is purring along nicely. Time for a frosty beverage!
The park has some nice hiking trails right from the campground and nearby visitor centre (where the cave tours start).
Trip Summary:
Depart from: City of Rocks State Park, NM
Depart time: 10:30 am (Dec 20)
Odometer: 129693 miles
Arrive time: 3:30pm pm Kartchner Caverns State Park, AZ
Odometer: 129816 miles
Gas Summary (fill-ups):
Odometer: 129693 miles, 9.37g @ US$3.30/g (US$30.91)