Before leaving Benson, AZ, we visited Kartchner Caverns State Park. This was clearly no comparison in size to Carlsbad Caverns, but it was interesting for a few reasons. First, it is a "living cave" meaning that many of the formations are still actively growing. Secondly, they really go above and beyond to minimize human influence in the caves. They have a series of airlock chambers as you enter and exit the cave, to control temperature and humidity, and they have a trough walkway that is cleaned nightly to remove any debris that people shed as they walk through. The lighting was also activated by a guide only when a tour was present, and even when on, the lighting was minimal, helping to inhibit unnatural algae growth.
Oh and one more thing...no photos allowed...sorry! Don't feel too bad, even as visitors to the cave, we were not able to see one of the most famous features...the second longest soda straw in the world. Not an actual soda straw, of course, but the formation that is the precursor to a stalactite. There is one in this cave that is 21 feet long!
 |
| We came around sunset |
 |
| This is not the normal shape |
 |
| Jane showing the size of the cactus |
After the cave tour, we travelled about an hour up the road toward Saguaro National Park. These cacti are stunning, and they are just so huge. Each of them really seems to have its own personality, which is not so hard to believe when you consider they live 150-200 years. Saguaro, pronounced "sah-wah-row," usually grow their first "arm" when they are 65 years old! Although they produce their first flowers when they are 35-40 years old, and produce an average of 40 million seeds over their lifetime, it is estimated that only one of those seeds will make it to maturity to replace the parent. The Saguaro cacti are just coming into bloom, but we did not see any flowers since they only open at night, and the park closes at sunset. What a sunset it was though!
 |
| End of another Day |
No comments:
Post a Comment