We heard about Kartchner Caverns from a family we were chatting with at Disneyland. They told us we had to check out Kartchner with the kiddos, so off we go!

Only 3 hours South from Lost Dutchman State Park is Kartchner Caverns State Park. What a gem. The caverns covered the same area over 330 million years ago and deposited layers of sediment that hardened into limestone. An uplift dropped the limestone millions of years later and formed the cavern. Gary and Randy, two friends who explored caves together, stumbled upon the caves in 1974 and kept them secret for 14 years. In 1988 the state of AZ purchased the caves from the Karchner Family who owned the land at the time.

We took a guided tour and got to sit in awe of Xanadu, the largest formation in the throne room. We couldn’t take anything in, no phone, no water, etc. in strict effort to keep this cave living.

Check out https://azstateparks.com/kartchner/explore/park-history for more info.

Great sunset this evening! Off to New Mexico tomorrow to add another sticker to our map and check out White Sands National Park.