Grand Canyon Caverns

*** Update- the five tourists ranging in age from 20 to 70 years old were rescued Monday night at about 7:30pm local time using an emergency hoist. One person at a time was lifted to the surface. ***

Just last week I read a story about the Grand Canyon Caverns.

To my surprise, a news item appeared today announcing that 5 tourists were trapped underground.

Trapped may be an exaggeration. According to their website, the attraction offers a hotel

Suite and a restaurant where you can voluntarily book to spend the night underground.

The twist here is that these people did not want nor expect to be lodged 200-feet below the surface.

According to reports, the general access elevator had failed. Although there are twenty-one flights of stairs, the members in this party are not physically capable of handling the strenuous ascent.

They are being housed in the hotel temporarily, fed, and well-cared for.

Rescue preparations include finding the cause of the elevator malfunction, presumed to be electrical. A reasonable solution may be to rig a generator to supply the needed power. Without knowing the root cause, this may not be an ideal situation.

"We have a search and rescue team standing by as well as a hoisting apparatus to lift people out if the repairs take longer than expected or if people are not comfortable staying down there," Jon Paxton, a spokesperson for the Coconino County Sheriff's Office, said in a report by CNN.

I’m still intrigued by the site as a travel destination. I look at everything as an adventure. Despite the inconvenience, these people seem in no immediate danger. They are, in fact, being treated with care and kindness.

The Grand Canyon Caverns were created over 65 million years ago,

Formed within the limestone that was once the bottom of an ancient inland sea that divided North America.

These are the largest dry caverns in the U.S.A.

Dry caverns compose only 3% of caverns in the world. Because of the lack of water, stalagmites and stalactites are rare in the caverns. Wikipedia

The cavern’s are located 65 miles northeast of Kingman, AZ and can be reached

Besides the suite at the hotel at the bottom of the cavern, the destination includes a motel topside, campgrounds, and even its own fly-in airport.

You can book a variety of tours with the company.

A 3/4 mile long guided tour and lasts about 45 minutes, as you explore: The Chapel of the Ages, The Halls of Gold, The Devils Den, Snowball Palace and Mammoth Dome. This is the same tour selected by the trapped tourists and is reached by that elevator.

The website describes the other tours as:

EXPLORER TOUR

Turn the Spelunker in you loose with the Explorer Tour!

We provide the helmet, the light, knee and elbow pads and a guide who will take you into parts of cavern most people never get to see, as you crawl and climb thru ancient water ways. Must be physically fit

Aprox. 2hrs

$99.00 * Reservations Required

WILD TOUR

A Challenging Adventure!

Decend down and through the Mystery Room and past the last light in the Cavern. Only your head lamp breaks the darkness as your guide leads you up, down, in, around and through, the secret back passages of the Grand Canyon Caverns.

Must be physically fit

Aprox. 2.5 hrs

$125.00 * Reservations Required

GHOST WALK

” A Truly Ghostly Experience!”

200 feet underground

Join us when we turn all the LIGHTS OUT! And go in search of the SPIRITS that haunt the Caverns.

IF YOU’RE BRAVE ENOUGH?

AND NOT AFRAID

OF THE DARK!

$39.00 * Reservations Required

GRAND CANYON CAVERNS

Open Everyday – 9:00 a.m.

Located on Historic Route 66 Mile Marker 115 Peach Springs, Arizona 86434

928-422-3223

Just West of Seligman, AZ And East of Kingman, AZ

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Photo credit: Grand Canyon Caverns