| Today was Marie's 12th birthday. To celebrate, the family took the day off from work/school and drove 2 1/2 hours south to Kartchner Caverns, a recently opened network of intense caves in Benson. Getting the family out the door at an early hour has always been a chore. I got up, shook Calvin, shook Michael and Marie, went downstairs, made coffee, went upstairs, shook Michael and Marie, shook Calvin, went downstairs, let the dogs out, sprayed out their run, came back in, went back upstairs, stuck my head into Michael and Marie's bedroom and hollered, jumped on the bed until Calvin's eyes cracked open, went back downstairs and got a cup of coffee, passed Marie in the hallway on the way back up, threatened Michael with death if he didn't get up RIGHT NOW, gave Calvin the coffee so he could function, and *finally* got in the shower. Pant. The drive down was quite nice. We paused for the roadtrip-traditional swing through the Burger King drive-thru for breakfast sandwiches. The kids crashed again in the back of the Suburban, and Calvin and I conversed and listened to *our* choice in music (for once). That's a study in diversity right there. Yanni. The Godzilla Soundtrack. An 80's compilation. Barbara Streisand. Ozzy Osborne. The soundtrack for Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Lenny Kravitz. The soundtrack for Varsity Blues (we're into soundtracks, I just realized). Phil Collins. Jimmy Buffet. Shania Twain. Def Leppard. And probably a bunch more I can't think of. Music for any mood. And that's just what we keep in the *truck*. We got to the state park at about 11:00. I checked us in and confirmed our reservations. This place is so popular (and so new) we had to make reservations five months in advance. They had the required gift shop (yes, I gave in and bought a gecko necklace and a CD of Native American music. More diversity for the truck console). Actually, I was impressed with the facilities. A lot of time, effort, money and care has gone into the preservation of these caves. I won't go into the entire story of the caves (you can check that out here), but the 15-minute video we watched described how these two intrepid amature spelunkers discovered an opening the size of a stretched-out coat hanger, wiggled their way along a shaft 200-feet long on their bellies, and discovered one of the most important series of caves in recent years. This cave is "living", meaning it still supports bats, and is still "wet" (limestone formations are still forming drop by drop). The explorers knew that once the word got out that the caves exist, they would be converged upon and killed in short order. So they, along with the Kartchner family (the landowners) appealed to the State government and made it into a State Park. They kept the modifications as subtle as possible to preserve the caves as they were when they were discovered. As it is, 85% of the cave has never had a human foot upon it. After the video, we poked around the displays showing the different formations, minerals, and photographs of the original expeditions into the cave. Then we met our tour guide along with the rest of the group (about 20 people). We boarded the tram and listened to the standard tour-guide patter..."Don't touch anything, don't drop anything, no photography (dammit), keep your hands and feet inside the tram at all times.." We wound our way around the back of the complex and up a trail to the side of a hill. We walked up a path to a set of large metal doors, which when opened revealed a short passage and another set of large metal doors. Kind of like an air lock. The tour guide explained that if the doors were not kept closed, the cave would dry out in a matter of days. It could come back to life again, but would take about fifty thousand years. As soon as we entered through the doors, the change in temperature and humidity was marked. Sixty-eight degrees inside the cave, 99% humidity. According to the tour guide, the tropical conditions were integral to the health of the cave system. Contractors were hired to develop the cave trail into something that would support the throngs of people who would be coming and going. What started out costing $800 per foot became approximately $3000 per foot. Calvin and I remarked that it sounded damn similar to what we're dealing with from our own contractor. Feh. I wish there were a way to describe the formations we saw. I *really* wish they'd allowed photography (dammit again), I would have had a field day. The first cavern we entered was called "The Rotunda". We paused for a moment before the lights were turned on, and just listened. We could hear water everywhere, and echoing away into the dark. Then the subdued lighting system was turned on, and the entire cavern opened up to our vision. The ceiling soared above us, and dripped with stalagtites and soda straw formations. "Bacon" formations were shaped like curving sheets (like bacon) which when backlit were transluscent. Stalagmites reached up from the floor, stretching to meet its mate descending from the cave ceiling. The tour guide remarked that it took a formation a thousand years to grow one inch. And what we were looking at were ten and twenty feet long (or high). It made me want to cry (I'm emotional that way). The path wound down to the cave floor, which was covered in very deep mud. Apparently when contractors were working in the area, they pushed a 20-foot long piece of PVC pipe into the mud, and didn't touch bottom. The trail through the mud that the original explorers used is still the only one that is used today. The rule is that you can fall forward or backward, but not to the side. I'd hate to have the job of changing the bulbs in the lights - the contractor who installed the fixtures sank up to his waist in the mud getting back there. We went up the path leading to the next cavern, which was surrounded by excellent examples of formations of every kind. Shield formations formed in a "plate" on the cave walls, and dripped down icicles of stalagtites like a drapery. "Fried egg" formations looked just like their descriptions - puddles of butterscotch colored limestone dripped onto the cave floor. Columns like wet sand dripped in a pile on the beach. Rocks round with sheets of shimmering stuff that looked like your fingers would sink into it if you touched it (we didn't, of course!). The sheer age and magnificence of the place weighed on you like a physical thing. There was much ooh-ing and ahh-ing going on. We wound our way through narrow passages until we felt the air change and just knew we'd arrived in the "Throne Room", the other cavern open to the public at this time. The tour guide flashed his light here and there, pointing various things out, but purposely refrained from shining it into the deep cavern behind us. Ahead of us was a theater type seating area, and we were instructed to file in. The tour guide's voice got very hushed as he described what it was like for the first explorers to first step into this cavern. He painted a vivid picture of hours of struggle through tight spaces a mud, and a burgeoning sense of anticipation as they finally broke through the last few feet of passage, and saw... The lights came up, and we were facing an enormous cavern. Directly in the center of the cavern was one of the largest limestone columns in the world. Six stories high, twenty feet in diameter, it soared and flowed and towered above the cavern floor. Blue, cream, butterscotch, white, black, pink - sparkling with mineral deposits. All around it were other formations reaching from the floor and ceiling. It reminded me of a central castle tower, with the village spread below it. Soft music played Native American chants, and the lighting was timed with it to light, backlight, highlight and shadow various areas of the cavern. The column is called Kuble Kahn. Breathtaking. All too soon the tour guide said "I hate to have to say this, but it's time to go." Everyone was quiet as we filed out. Reverence. Awe. Emotion. We reached the air lock, and suddenly everyone was babbling at once. We tripped over one another's words as we tried to explain to each other what the experience meant to us. But we all came to the same conclusion - it is impossible to express. We unanimously agreed that the Kartchner experience was hands-down preferable to work and school. The disappointment we felt in realizing only a fraction of the caves were open to the public at this time was balanced with the knowledge that more and more of the caves would become accessible in the next few years. So great is their concern to preserve the caverns that the contractors can only work from October through May of every year, when the bats living in the caves migrate to Mexico. Amazing. WAAAAH!!! I wanted to take pictures!!! |