#COLOSSAL CAVE VS KARTCHNER CAVERNS CRACK#

That new sink hole was also disappointing, but Randy and Gary decided upon a whim to return to the prior sink hole. He went home to gather his caving gear and asked Gary Tenen to join him to explore the new sink hole.

It was years later when Randy was on a picnic luncheon date, that he found another sink hole. There they found – and nearly fell into – a deep sink hole filled with rattlesnakes.Īt the time, although they had found a sink hole and a small cave chamber, they did not think that the cave 'went' anywhere. The miner pointed to the foothills below them. For years, Randy would take his college peers out to the Whetstone limestone mountain range looking for caves, walking a grid, with no success until they asked a local miner if he had ever heard of a local cave. At the time he decided to find a cave that had not ever been vandalized and protect it. At the age of 13, Randy read an English children's adventure book entitled, 'Five Boys in a Cave.' This book inspired him. His uncle showed Randy caves in Arizona that had been vandalized in various ways including graffiti, litter, and the theft of stalactites and stalagmites. Randy Tufts, PhD, who at the time of his death was a geologist and lunar and planetary scientist for NASA, was introduced to caving as a young boy by his maternal uncle, who was also a geologist.

#COLOSSAL CAVE VS KARTCHNER CAVERNS CRACK#

The caverns were discovered in 1974, when cavers Gary Tenen and Randy Tufts found a narrow crack in the bottom of a sinkhole, and followed the source of warm, moist air toward what ended up being more than 2.5 miles (4.0 km) of pristine cave passages. Bruce Randall 'Randy' Tufts, geologist, were designed to protect and preserve the cave system throughout the park's development, and for perpetuity. Careful and technical cave state park development and maintenance, initially established by founder Dr. The caverns are carved out of limestone and filled with spectacular speleothems which have been growing for 50,000 years or longer, and are still growing. The park encompasses most of a down-dropped block of Palaeozoic rocks on the east flank of the Whetstone Mountains. Long hidden from view, the caverns were discovered in 1974 by local cavers, assisted by state biologist Erick Campbell who helped in its preservation.

The park is located 9 miles (14 km) south of the town of Benson and west of the north-flowing San Pedro River. Kartchner Caverns State Park is a state park of Arizona, United States, featuring a show cave with 2.4 miles (3.9 km) of passages.

Colossal cave vs kartchner caverns