Kartshner Caverns State Park

At the last minute we decided to go here. And are we ever happy with our decision.

We had planned to go to a park in the mountains, but the weather turned very cold and we were concerned about our pipes freezing. So we looked for a park at a lower elevation. We had heard of this park from my mother, so decided to give it a try.

The caverns were awesome. Discovered in 1974 by a couple of college students who kept their find a secret for many years, unwilling to let the world know of the beauties right in plain sight (well, not exactly, a few feet under what was in plain sight) until they could be sure the caverns would be preserved.

The state of Arizona has done a magnificent job maintaining a balance between preservation and making the caverns accessible to people. Paths have been built through the caverns. But one has to go through doors to preserve the temperature and humidity. Guests even get a misting of water so that they don't absorb moisture in the caverns.

We visited the caverns one day, and took a great 7 mile hike the next day. The hike was on the Guindani Trail in the Coronado National Forest (right next to Kartschner Caverns State Park), and then on a loop hike in the State Park.

Both hikes had decent elevation gain. If you do the Guindani Trail, we recommend doing the loop the way we did it--counter clockwise. You hike through a canyon, gradually climbing to a saddle back. When you reach the saddle back, you suddenly come upon a stunning view of the mountains. Took our breath away.

I got this shot of Vicky just as she approached the top of the saddle back and could see the mountains on the other side.



We spent two days there. We will go back and take another hiking trail we came upon--the Cottonwood Saddle Trail, and visit more of the Caverns.

Our next stop is Mesa to visit my mother. We have reservations at Usery Mountain Park again.