By Mary L. Peachin
Sunday, October 31, 1999
In the rugged hills of the Whetstone Mountains, about 40 miles southeast of Tucson, amateur cavers Randy Tufts and Gary Tenen found the “mother lode.” More precious to them than gold was their 1974 discovery of an untouched natural treasure, a living cave with growing calcite formations, hidden under the desert floor for more than a million years.
Equally amazing are the steps Tufts and Tenen took to protect their remarkable find from vandalism and destruction. Rather than trumpeting the news of their discovery, the two men, then in their mid-20s, adopted a years-long code of silence, going so far as making selected friends and loved ones sign documents of secrecy, so as to protect the caves.
The public will be able to see for itself what all the excitement is about on Nov. 12 when the cave at Kartchner Caverns State Park will finally open to the public. It is anticipated that it will become the second largest tourist attraction in the state, after the Grand Canyon. Most reservations for tours have already been booked for the next six months.
Almost a quarter century after the caves discovery, Jay Ream, chief of operations for Arizona State Parks, describes Tufts and Tenen as “two kids chasing the smell of bat guano.” (Although mountainous limestone terrain and the occasional sinkhole are the landmarks spelunkers look for when searching for caves, a whiff of odoriferous bat guano is the telltale sign.)
The road to discovery was a long one. In 1966, Tufts and a few of his college buddies were feeling frustrated by their lack of success in finding undiscovered caves. On one of their many weekend trips into the Whetstones, they bumped into a miner digging in the Lone Star Mine, in the Coronado National Forest just west of the private Kartchner ranch. They asked the miner if he knew of any caves in the area. He didn , but he did tell them about a nearby sinkhole where he had observed some high school kids exploring the terrain.
The sinkhole was on private land, owned by a rancher named James Kartchner, who did not learn about the cave that now bears his name until 1978.
After many hours of searching, Tufts found the sinkhole and, in it, an opening leading into a small chamber. The two cavers found no evidence of the existence of a larger cave and, concerned that the sinkhole might be unstable, they abandoned further exploration. While Tufts had no expectations of finding a cave, out of habit he marked the site on his topographical map.
On an autumn day seven years later, Tufts, while caving in the same area, decided to further explore the sinkhole. While wandering near its perimeter, he discovered a second tunnel and hypothesized about the possibility of a passage between the two holes. When Tufts and Tenen returned the next weekend for further exploration, they found the small chamber as they remembered it.
Searching more carefully this time, the two men found a small opening in the rocks. From it, amid the cool air of the chamber, seeped a whiff of warm guano-scented air.
Tufts and Tenen knew they were on to something big. They wasted no time squeezing into the narrow opening — and discovered a second chamber, littered with footprints and broken stalactites that spoke of visits from the teenagers they had heard about.
The cavers continued their search of the chamber, finding a 10-inch high crawl space, which extended into a narrow 20-foot tunnel. The tunnel ended abruptly at a wall, marred only by a small hole. As Tufts peered through the blowhole, a breeze extinguished his carbide light.
Adrenaline began to pump through Tufts body. The velocity of the guano-scented air meant that it had to be coming from a large underground chamber. Highly motivated, Tufts and Tenen began to bang away at the blowhole with a sledgehammer.
After enlarging the blowhole enough to squeeze through, Tufts and Tenen crawled through a 50-foot-long, guano-covered tunnel. Then suddenly, they emerged into a 300-foot-long passage, one high enough for them to walk upright. The cavers stood stunned, surrounded by fragile glass-like soda straws, formations that grow into stalactites as the droplets of water seep through limestone and calcium carbonate. There were no footprints or other evidence that a human being had ever entered this wondrous cave.
They emerged changed, weighted down by the awesome responsibility of protecting their discovery — a living cave dripping with an awesome variety of mineral and rock formations, undiscovered by humans since its formation. If the word got out, the cave could be vandalized or damaged by enthusiastic amateurs. They decided to keep it a secret until deciding what to do.
It took a year for Tufts and Tenen to fully explore the 2 1/2-mile cave, which was made up of two main chambers — each 100 feet high and the size of a football field — and 26 smaller attached rooms. Whenever they drove to the Whetstones, the cavers hid their cars while they were exploring, so as not to give away the location of the cave entrance. As they explored, they marked their trail only with Popsicle sticks. They removed their shoes, wearing only socks so as not to leave footprints.
The weight of the responsibility of their discovery continued to grow. The pristine cave was too accessible, only 9 miles from a major highway. Tufts and Tenen decided that the only way to protect the cave was to develop it as a commercial attraction, or get federal or state protection.
In 1978, they went to visit the landowners. By then, Tufts and Tenen had been trespassing on the Kartchner ranch for four years. The family was at first annoyed, but then they heard about the cave. Sworn to secrecy, the Kartchner family worked with the cavers.
The Kartchners, who owned the ranch since 1941, couldn have anticipated that the development and commercialization of the cave would cost more than $28 million. They brought in then-Gov. Bruce Babbitt, who viewed the cave and, under a veil of secrecy, helped to guide the property into public ownership.
Babbitt led the cavers and ranchers through the legislative process of designating the cave as a state park. In 1988, when the state of Arizona bought the land, only six members of the legislature knew that the dummy legislation actually authorized the creation of the James and Lois Kartchner Caverns State Park.
Former Babbitt assistant Betsy Bolding recalled the first time Babbitt saw the cave. “When I told him these two young men wanted him to visit the cave, he drove with me, bringing his two young sons, T.J. and Christopher, and we all crawled through that claustrophobic tunnel on our stomachs. Thank goodness, there was a magnificent cave at the end of the tunnel.”
IF YOU GO
Getting There
To reach Kartchner Caverns State Park from Tucson, take Interstate Highway 10 east to the Arizona Highway 90 (Sierra Vista/Ft. Huachuca ) exit. The cave is located 9 miles south of the exit. Approximate driving time is 45 minutes from Tucson.
Lodging
Kartchner has a campground on the drawing board, but its opening has been delayed. The fee for camping will be $15 per night.
There are a number of hotel rooms in Benson, 9 miles from Kartchner Caverns, including a Holiday Inn Express and a Motel 6. Sierra Vista, 19 miles away, has 1,000 hotel rooms, which can be accessed from its Web site at www.visitsierravista.com.
The Park
Kartchner Caverns State Park is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily except holidays. Admission into the 550-acre park (which has hiking trails) and Discovery Center (which includes a theater and interactive exhibits about the cave) is $10 per car for up to four people. Admission to the cave is not included.
The Cave
The grand opening on Nov. 12 of Kartchner Caverns — the cave — is expected to draw worldwide attention. Kartchner is one of less than a dozen “wet” living caves in the world, and caving experts rank it as one of the finest for its mineral diversity.
Tours of the cave are mostly booked for the next six months. If space is available, some visitors without reservations may get lucky — but don count on it. The one-hour tours will be offered from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The cost, which is in addition to admission the park, is $14 for adults, $6 for children ages 7-14.
To protect the fragile ecosystem, visitors will walk through a descending 40-foot-long shaft, passing through an air curtain before entering an air-locked conservation chamber designed to remove any spores collected on clothing. Protective shields, unnoticeable to the visitor, line the trail to collect any foreign material carried on shoes.
The tour will include the two main chambers, the Big Room and the Throne Room — most of the year. In the summer months, several thousand bats use the Big Room as a maternity ward; while the bats are birthing, tours will not disturb them.
Climate
As the summer heat climbs over 100, the interior of the cave maintains a temperature of 68(degrees)F and a humidity of 99 percent.
Information, Reservations
520-586-CAVE; www.pr.state.az.us.