![]() ![]() Future plans include making the park’s campgrounds more family-oriented with playground activities. The cave now offers five separate tours: the Regular Tour, which is about a half-mile tour which explores the popular and easily-accessible parts of the cave the Daytime Ladder Tour where guests can climb up ladders to visit off-route areas of the cave that have rarely been seen by the public the Nighttime Ladder Tour with Dinner in which guests take part in the ladder tour and then enjoy a dinner by campfire under the stars the Wild Cave Tour, where guests can follow the footsteps of early explorers through unlit and unmarked areas of the cave and the Candlelight Tour, where guests explore the cave by candlelight to experience how explorers saw the cave when it was first discovered.Ĭolossal Cave Mountain Park plans to further update the park with continued renovations during the coming years. It restructured its cave tours and created new tour options for guests. The park updated its kitchen and now provides a full menu of freshly made signature dishes including hamburgers, hot dogs, pulled pork sandwiches, and pizzas.Ĭolossal Cave Mountain Park also eliminated the $5 entrance fee allowing free access to the grounds. With the new renovations, we’re hoping that this area will not only be a place to access the cave, but also place where local residents and travelers can come for lunch or coffee, a relaxing picnic, family gatherings, and much more,” said Held.Īs part of the renovation, Colossal Cave Mountain Park also introduced new food offerings available for guests. It offers breathtaking views of the park and is a calm and tranquil area for our visitors to enjoy the natural scenery and landscape. “The cave’s entrance is the focal point of Colossal Cave Mountain Park. Additionally, the cave’s entrance received new patio furniture, an outdoor kitchen and restaurant, remodeling touch-ups, and more. The park opened a new gift shop, which is nearly triple the size of the previous shop, and features Colossal Cave T-shirts, memorabilia, stuffed animals, and souvenir items. Since the shift in ownership, several renovations to the cave’s entrance have been completed. The renovation process began in August when Ortega National Parks took ownership of Colossal Cave Mountain Park. Our goal with the renovations is to keep the original and natural splendor of the park, while creating an overall enjoyable experience for our guests.” ![]() “Colossal Cave Mountain Park has a rich history and showcases the beauty of southern Arizona. “We are very excited to re-introduce Colossal Cave Mountain Park to the Vail community and travelers to the area,” said Brian Held, general manager of Colossal Cave Mountain Park. © Photographer: William Wise | Agency: Dreamstime.Colossal Cave Mountain Park, located approximately 15 minutes southeast of Tucson in Vail, Ariz., has officially reopened to the public after completing its first phase of renovations. A zoomed in display on the Nikon view screen showed a small lizard in the grip of his talons. So many Life Birds! One special shot in particular was of a Zone-tailed Hawk soaring overhead. But with birding being my “new thing”, the afternoon was filled with excitement. On all my last visits to the Tucson International Bible Conference over the last 25 years of my salvation, reptiles were the focus of my desert treks, if time allowed for any treks at all. More time for photography on the short nature trail! Our group being so large, my wife and I stayed back from touring the cave (which we had both been into before). Up at Colossal Cave entrance we met up with our friends. I was sort of taken aback, for it was odd to see a regular visitor in my green Georgia backyard out in this dry, brown desert. In a dry creek bed near the trail-head, I spotted a Blue Grosbeak singing in the scrub. In this high heat, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse! We hiked about a mile and turned back to meet our group. The desert mountains stretched off into the distance and a Turkey Vulture soared overhead. It was such a stereotypical southwestern desert scene! A hot, bright high noon sun overhead burning sand and rocks underneath our feet parched lips and not a spot of shade to be found. So we took a short mountain desert hike up the Arizona Trail. © Photographer: William Wise | Agency: Īt 11:00 AM, we arrived at Colossal Cave Mountain park about an hour-and-a-half ahead of the rest of our friends from church. ![]()
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