KARTCHNER CAVERNS - A WONDER TO EXPERIENCE

I am posting this entry one day after having visited for the first time the wonder of Kartchner Caverns State Park. Kartchner, considered by many experts to be one of the top ten caves in the world, has managed to strike a precarious balance between preservation as a live scientific cave and a unique and fascinating point of interest accessible to the public. In fact, it is the only U.S.cave fully accessible by wheelchair. Yet, despite the accessibility, great care has been taken to keep the cave in as pristine a condition as possible. Visitors are shuffled through a series of doors in order not to affect the temperature and humidity of the caverns. The cave's special lighting has been laid, whenever possible, along the route taken by Kartchner's discoverers in an effort to disrupt the cave environment as little as possible.The result is that something like 80 - 90 percent of the cave floor has never been set foot upon by man. In addition, the cave formations have remained virtually undisturbed by man. Unlike Colossal Cave in nearby Pima County or the famed Carlsbad Caverns in neighboring New Mexico, Kartchner Caverns will remain a living, still developing cave due to the care taken to protect the cave from man's interference. Having visited both Colossal Cave and Carlsbad Caverns, both of which I would highly recommend, I would have to say that the visit to Kartchner was quite different than the other two. In keeping Kartchner Caverns in a relatively pristine condition, there have been trade offs. The lighting, for instance, is less flashy. The primary purpose is to protect the cave. However, it also, in my humble opinion, allows the visitor to see the cave in a way that is closer to how the cave's discoverers viewed things when they first descended into this alien environment. There's no whiff of the amusement park here. Perhaps, in some ways, the experience is less impressive, but the rewards of knowing that this same cave environment can, potentially, be enjoyed by generations to come, makes the trade off more than acceptable. In my next post, I'll discuss the cave's discovery and the extraordinary measures taken to protect and develop it. Then, in the post following that, I will attempt to relate what it is like touring this unique natural wonder. Larry Elkins Elkinsphotos Fine Art Photography elkinsphotos.com