Visitor Center

Kartchner Caverns State Park Discovery Center is a 23,000-square-foot center that will teach visitors the history and details of the cave. The center houses informative exhibits and displays the natural wonders of the cave in realistic settings. It also provides educational information about the caverns and the surrounding natural landscapes.

In the main exhibit area, special sections are dedicated to such topics as geology, bat population, paleontology and mineralogy. Other exhibits include: cave exploration; origin of caverns; features of a live, wet cave; bats and their environment; biology of Kartchner Caverns; and local and regional attractions.

Since the cavern tour itself stresses a "hands-off" policy, the exhibits featured at the Discovery Center are made of fiberglass, which allows visitors to get a feeling of the cave formations within the caverns. There is also an exhibit featuring crawl-through holes for children, giving them an understanding of how small the original entrance was that the explorers discovered.

A 2,000-square-foot bookstore and gift shop located in the Discovery Center will provide visitors with items to take home from their visit to Kartchner Caverns. In addition to a wide assortment of grand opening merchandise, the shop sells books, videos, maps, calendars and other reference material on the caves. Other merchandise concepts include: "Kave Kids" children's apparel; "Discover Fun" educational toys such as collector cards and crafts; "Crafted in Arizona" local, handmade merchandise including pottery, baskets, rugs, dolls and jewelry; Kartchner Caverns State Park logo souvenirs such as magnets, mugs, pens and coasters; "Out of Arizona" gifts emphasizing themes including nature preservation, geology, and local and regional trends; "Taste of the Southwest" candy and snacks unique to Arizona and the southwestern United States; and sundries and camping supplies.