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Kartchner Caverns
Arizona’s living cave, kept secret for 14 years
Two young cavers found Kartchner Caverns in November 1974, then kept it secret for 14 years. Gary Tenen and Randy Tufts were exploring the limestone foothills of the Whetstone Mountains south of Benson, Arizona, when they squeezed through a sinkhole into a cave no one had ever entered, still wet and growing. Fearing vandals, they told only the landowners, James and Lois Kartchner, and spent years working with them toward protection. Arizona bought the land and announced the discovery in 1988.
The state spent about $28 million on airlocks, misting systems and paths designed to keep the cave as humid as it was before people arrived, and Kartchner Caverns State Park opened in November 1999. The cave has about 2.4 miles (3.9 km) of passages. Its Big Room is closed from mid-April to mid-October while more than 1,000 female cave myotis bats raise their young. Formations include the 58-foot (18 m) Kubla Khan column and a soda straw stalactite 21 feet 2 inches (6.45 m) long, among the longest known.