Kartchner Caverns State Park Guide

This is a wet cave — still growing, still dripping, one of the finest living limestone caverns in the world — and it was kept a total secret for 14 years to protect it. Two cavers found it in 1974, told almost no one, and quietly worked to get it turned into a state park before a single tourist boot fouled it; it didn’t open until 1999. Inside are formations that take your breath: the 58-foot Kubla Khan column (the tallest in Arizona), one of the longest soda straw stalactites in the country at 21 feet, and “Kartchner’s Throne.” Airlock doors keep the humidity at 99 percent so the cave keeps growing. No photography inside — that’s the deal that keeps it pristine.