Arizona is HOT. Too hot. It’s that time of the year when we question why we’re not snowbirds yet. Oh that’s right, we still have 347 years left until retirement. Since we can’t retire yet and we were in need of a new adventure, we booked ourselves a tour of Colossal Cave Mountain Park, where the year round average temperature below is 70 °F (21 °C).
Colossal Cave Mountain Park offers 3 tours:
- Classic Cave Tour – Offered daily every hour all year round for $18. Tour is 1 hour long & no reservations are required.
- Ladder Tour – Reservations are required for this 1.5 hour long tour. It’s $35 per person and only for those ages 12 and up (anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult). Participants must also be physically fit.
- Wild Cave – 3.5 hours long for those ages 16+ (anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult). Its $85 per person and reservations are required. Participants must also be physically fit.
3.5 hours seemed a bit long for our first time there so we opted for the Ladder Tour.
The road is a bit sketchy on the way up the mountain but once there, there are plenty of things to do while waiting for the tour to start… like make friends with this statue.
Once we met with our guide and were outfitted with lighted helmets, we proceeded to the entrance of the cave.
The first portion of the tour is much like the Classic Tour: we visited all the sections the classic tour goes through while hearing the history of Colossal Cave. Our guide also pointed out various impossible looking places the 3.5 hour Wild Cave Tour goes through.
After the first half of the tour, the real fun began! We crawled and climbed, got extremely dusty, and even scooted down some sections in complete darkness without our helmet lights, relying solely on sound and touch. We bumped into a lot of things, including the 4 others in our tour.
As the tour progressed, the ladders we climbed got more and more narrow and the spaces became tighter. I wear size 6 (US) shoes and I could barely just get one foot on some of the rungs. Not sure how those with bigger feet managed.
We had SO MUCH FUN on the Ladder Tour at Colossal Cave Mountain Park! We would happily do it again in a heart beat. The time length and adventure was just right.
| Colossal Cave Ladder Tour Overview | ||
| Coordinates / Address 16721 E. Old Spanish Trail, Vail, AZ 85641 |
Fees / Permit Ladder Tour: $35/person (age 12+) |
Difficulty Moderate |
| Usage About 6-8 per group |
Pets allowed No |
Camera Info iPhone X |