Adventure

21 Views from Kartchner Caverns State Park

It is home to a limestone cavern system about 1 hour drive from Tuscon.

There are many cacti in the park.

 

Hiking trails include:

  • Hummingbird Garden Walk
  • Foothills Loop Trail
  • Ocotillo Trail
  • Guindani Trail

 

 

There is abundant wildlife like:

  • birds
  • snakes
  • skunks
  • mice
  • deer
  • bats
  • road runner
  • lizards
  • gila monsters
  • mountain lions
  • coyotes
  • fox

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a park map of trails:

 

 

The best part is the caves.

There are limestone caverns like these:

The caverns have:

  • soda straw stalactites 21 feet long
  • brushite moonmilk
  • shields, totems
  • helictites, and rimstone dams
  • formations growing for thousands of years

stalagmite above picture grows up from ground

 

 

stalactite grows downward from top of cave

It costs $23 to tour the Rotunda-Throne Room or Big Room and takes 30-60min to complete.

The also have a helmet and headlamp tour that takes 1.25 hours.

You can take pictures only on the photo tour, which takes 2 hours.

 

 

infographic

 

 

 

 

The park has 62 campsites for tents, RVs, and some cabins. There is a KOA a mile away.

More info about the park or to reserve a campsite: https://azstateparks.com/kartchner

How to get there:

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