Karchner Caverns, AZ

We drove south on the interstate towards Tucson, being careful to avoid the part of the highway that ran directly through the city. We were fairly comfortable with driving for five or six hours to the next stop, the Karchner Caverns would be a good place to spend the night. The Karchner Caverns are underground caverns that the state acquired from the Karchner ranching family. The state park includes a nice visitor center and several different tours of the caverns. Although it was a weekday, there were vacationing families left over from spring break, as well as the usual RV campers.
We found a spot in the small campground without having to check in. There was no camp host or park ranger around, so we took a walk around the campground to explore and check out the bathhouse. We found that camping fees were on the honor system, just fill out a form, add your money and drop in the box. It was a beautiful campground on a hill, with the caverns underneath and behind us in the hill. We also checked out our fellow campers, looking at their rigs and toys. We still were not confident enough to walk up and strike up a conversation, so we just said hello as we walked around and turned in for the night.
The next morning we walked over to the visitor center to possibly take a tour of the caverns. There were great displays of the discovery and creation of the caverns and park, as well as the history of the area. The valley to the east of the hills was a river valley that produced much of the fruit and vegetables in this part of the state. We decided we didn’t want to pay to go on the tour of the caverns, and left the park before noon.