the webmaster screwed up and forgot to get the date on this article but i think its sat october 16, 1999

$28M of work lets visitors inside caverns

The excitement builds as the long-awaited public opening of Kartchner Caverns State Park nears. The grand opening, scheduled for Nov. 12, is expected to draw worldwide attention. One of fewer than a dozen known "wet" caves in the world, ranked as one of the world's finest. Kartchner is expected to be the state's second-largest tourist attraction, behind Grand Canyon National Park. The 14 years spent exploring and designing the cave for public access have been tedious and costly. Cost has run at about $27,000 a foot, totaling $28 million. The cost has been expensive because of the work needed to protect the cave while allowing access to it.

To protect the fragile ecosystem, visitors will walk down a 40-foot-long shaft, passing through an air curtain before entering an air-locked chamber, where the air locks will remove spores collected on clothing. Special kick plates, constructed along the traff, were designed to collect any foreign material carried on shoes.

The Arizona State Parks will warn visitors not to touch anything. The half-mile traff winds through the mineral formations, stalactites, and stalagmites. One curious touch of a hand could destroy a formation that had been a million years in the making.

Lighting the interior of the cave was another challenge for the experts. Too much wattage could create too much heat and dry the cave, while too little light could cause visitors to stumble.

A tour through either the Big Room or Throne Room is enthralling. The stalactites and stalagmites, which grow one-tenth of a millimeter in a year, can be viewed in all shapes and forms. Droplets of water seep through the limestone creating the soda straws that will eventually become! stalactites. When water hits the floor, carbon dioxide escapes, leaving irregular layers of calcium carbonate, which grow into stalag mites.

Kartchner's walls are covered with helictites, formed by water forcing its way through tiny fissures. Appearing like frozen waterfalls, called draperies or curtains, they have been formed by water deposits dripping on the underside of a sloping ceiling. A vari ety of iron deposits have created colorful formations called cave bacon; some deposits look like fried eggs with smooth and hard surfaces. The single trail used by amateur spelunkers Randy Tufts and Gary Tenen after they discovered and explored the cave remains on the muddy bottom of the Throne Room. This mud, which experts think might be as much as 12 feet deep, provides the moisture for the wetness and humidity in the caves. During a rainy year, rains seeps through the lime stone, covering the 'mud to create a river.

During the summer months, several thousand bats use the Big Room as a maternity ward. While the bats are birthing in the cave, they will be left in darkened privacy. Cave experts feel that the well being of the bats will be a barometer of the public's impact on the cave. Bats do not nest in the Throne Room but there is bat guano dating back 35,000 years.

As the summer heat climbs past 100, the interior of the cave maintains a temperature of 68 degrees and a humidity of 97.5 to 100 percent.

One feature of Kartchner Caverns is its accessibility to the public. It is nine miles from Interstate 10.

As people travel through southern Arizona's major interstate highway, a short detour will allow them to tour one of the finest examples of a wet cave in the world.

• Crazy Atheist Libertarian
• Government Snitch?????
• David Dorn
• Fat Blond Guy
• Crazy Atheist