Kartchner Caverns to Deming

[click on pics to enlarge]

We headed south out of Tucson for Kartchner Caverns State Park. This is one of the few “wet” (still forming) caves in the world that is open for viewing. It was discovered back in the 70’s by two college students who entered via a sinkhole barely large enough to crawl through. They reached the “end” and faced a small hole the size of a fist. They enlarged it to coathanger size, and felt moist, guano-smelling air. They knew there was something larger beyond, but did not have time to explore. They didn’t return for another 7 years. What they found was an untouched and hitherto unknown cave system with a huge column (“Kubla Khan”), zillions of soda straw formations including the 2nd longest in the world, and many many beautiful formations. This was an excellent tour. The cave is highly protected, including what look like blast doors that seal off the interior from exterior air. We recommend this highly if you are down this way. They have an RV campground adjacent, so we stayed the night with about 6 other rigs. No one within 100 feet of us. Pitch black at night until the moon came up. The Milky Way, hurrah! It would appear that the old sci-fi movie “Them” (with the giant ants) wasn’t so far off. This place (and the rest of SW AZ) is home to the world’s largest grasshoppers, beautifully colored. Man, do they make a mess when they splat on your vehicle!

After Kartchner, we went to Tombstone, flying in the face of everyone who warned us about it being a tourist trap. Well, it is. But they do it with such a lack of cynicism that you can’t help but enjoy yourself. Plus, they have an ice cream parlor where I had the best vanilla malt since Swenson’s closed down 15 years ago. They even give you the metal mixing urn so you can enjoy the leftover. Yum. My taste buds still work well for malt and for coffee ice cream. No chocolate. Looks like that’s gone forever. Oh, for another savor of Loni’s niece Noelle’s flourless chocolate cake. Sigh. Anyway, we walked the town (all three blocks of it), saw the re-creation of the OK Corral shootout, which, as it happens, did not take place there but two buildings down in an alley. Hugh O’Brien is turning over in his grave. We got a souvenir newspaper which carried the coroner’s inquest witness statements about the shootout. It’s pretty obvious that the cowboys (3 dead) got railroaded. The Earps, and Doc Holliday (a pathological killer if ever there was one) fired the first shots, and two of the victims were unarmed, while a third threw his hands up shouting “Don’t shoot me!” Shot he was, and killed. A sad day for law and order, even if the cowboys were scumbags.

The next day we took the scooter off the rack and motored 23 miles south to Bisbee, an old mining boomtown, now an artists’ colony. We took the mine tour which was rather neat. You go in on the same mine trolly that took the miners in. Unfortunately, I not only had dead batteries in the camera, but the spares I brought along must have been used as well as they lasted only a few shots. Our guide had been a miner, spending 30 years below the surface. 30 minutes would have been long enough for me to make a career change. The old time miners had it unbelievably rough, working by candlelight, no dust protection (lung disease got most of them), no hearing protection, etc. etc. A shift was 10 hours and they got the magnificent sum of $3.50 a day.

In the afternoon we toured the galleries and fell in love with a couple of artists. Good thing we were traveling by scooter or we might have bought something. We were walking around with our helmets, so we never got a hard sell as they figured we wouldn’t buy. Great lunch at a small café where they baked their own 7 grain bread, made enormous sandwiches, and homemade soups. Thumbs up. I didn’t have room for the berry crumble they tempted me with. Took in the local mining museum, which is associated with the Smithsonian. Good stuff. Had a nice scoot ride back to Tombstone, except for the occasional bug splatter on my visor. We’re cruising comfortably at 55mph, with plenty of oomph left. The Vespa definitely was a good choice.

Our next destination was the Chiricahua National Monument, thanks to the AAA guidebook. I had never heard of the place, but it is a real gem. The place is full of hoodoos which are similar to the ones in Bryce, but of a different composition. A huge nearby volcano deposited white hot ash which, when it cooled, fused into a 2,000 foot thick layer of rock. Eons of erosion did the rest. There are spectacular balancing rocks, shaped rocks, columns, canyons, you name it. We took the scoot up 1500 feet to a trailhead and went on a 8 ½ mile hike to the best of the rock formations. We gained and lost about 2000 feet of elevation and were very tired puppies by the time we staggered out. This is all around 4500 to 6000 feet in altitude, so it wasn’t JUST age. I did find that the scoot likes to understeer, so we slowed a lot for the corners (which had loose gravel now and then, so going slowly was a good idea anyway). The campground is dry camping only, so we relied on the batteries and tanks and didn’t miss a beat. Even watched a DVD we got from Netflix. If anyone is a Ballykissangel fan, you’d like this series which is called Doc Martin. British humor. Love it.