Colossal cave or kartchner caverns11/28/2023 It is kind of an outdoor zoo/botanical garden with desert plants, paths and animals with a beautiful mountain backdrop. If these don't appeal to you, the Tucson Desert Museum is a must-see if you are looking for a nature/desert experience. If you are "into" caves, I would definitely choose Kartchner. It is also less expensive then Kartchner and you can walk up and take a tour without a reservation. They take you through and tell interesting stories of all of the supposed goings-on of the past in the cave (hideout for bandits etc.) They do not give you as much of a geological background as they give you history. It is dry and the rooms are much smaller than Kartchner. Check their website for the #.Ĭolossal Cave is a dead cave (dry). Sometimes you can just walk up and get lucky if they have a cancellation, but I wouldn't take the chance. You will need to phone ahead to make a reservation for a cave tour as they sometimes book up months in advance. It is close to an hour's drive outside of Tucson. You will learn a lot about the different formations and how they formed. The rooms are huge and the formations are awesome. You'll find many of the same types of formations in Colossal Cave and Kartchner Caverns like the drapery room.I've been to both. Moreno said the near-record monsoon has awakened the cave just a little bit. While nearby Kartchner Caverns is known as a wet, living cave- Colossal Cave is a dry or dead cave. Because of all the monsoon we were getting this year it's pushing about 83% right now." "The temperature stays about 71 degrees in our cave," Cave Lead Antonio Moreno said. Regardless of the origin, once inside, you'll quickly understand why it's called Colossal Cave and why it's a welcome relief from the heat. "From that statement it's believed the name Colossal Cave came from."Īnother theory, Leighton told KGUN 9, is that one-time UArizona President Byron Cummings gave it its name. "After exploring the cave for quite awhile he came out and when asked about it he said 'the cave was colossal,'" Leighton explained. A Boy Scout named Lynn Hodgson was asked by a potential developer to explore the cave. By 1917, it earned it's larger than life name. In 1905, the cave was actually mined for its bat guano, used as fertilizer. People are still on the look out for it to this day. What happened to the stolen loot is unclear. As the legend goes, he served almost two decades in prison in Yuma and never confessed to where the treasure was. After a shootout, just one of the train robbers survived. The sheriff and his posse tracked the bandits to the cave. They escaped with thousand of dollars in currency, gold and silver. "On one of his tours around his property he discovered an opening that he thought was a mine, which turned out to be what we now call Colossal Cave."Īt the time, Solomon Lick's discovery was known as "The Mountain Spring Cave." Eight years later, in 1887, the cave played a major role in what became know as the "Legend of the Lost Loot."Īccording to Leighton's research, three men robbed the same Southern Pacific train twice in a four month period. "Around 1879, a guy name Solomon Lick took over the Mountain Springs Ranch," Leighton said. According to Tucson historian David Leighton, the area became known as Mountain Springs Ranch which had a stagecoach stop and a hotel. There's still evidence of a fire pit and smoke residue near the cave entrance.įast forward to the 1870s. Formed a couple hundred million years ago, the cave system was used by native tribes about a thousand years ago.
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