#Colossal mountain cave update
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Future plans include making the park’s campgrounds more family-oriented with playground activities.

#Colossal mountain cave update

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.

#Colossal mountain cave full

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. They will have a hell of a time.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. “It is great to go on a cave tour but we want families to spend the day here. “This is a great place to take your family,” Held said. Held said the goal of the park is to make a trip to Colossal Cave an all-day affair.

#Colossal mountain cave zip

Future additions will include zip lines, mountain bike rentals, and a beer and wine garden. The new additions to the park are step one of four phases to improve visitor experience. “Ortega making money is good because they can fix the roads and fix the buildings that need to be fixed to keep this the peoples’ park.” “Every since Ortega took control of the park they have been doing those renovations and making money,” Holmes said. The county gave management of the park to a company called Ortega National Parks. “The park had been going downhill for several years and the park was not going anyplace good.” “We did an audit on the park to examine how we did things, and it was not good,” Holmes said.

Loss of income and an illegal killing of a mountain lion caused the county to reconsider its management, said Pima County Tourism Manager, Mike Holmes. The elimination of the entrance fee will save visitors to the park $5. “What we focused on was the new visitors center, gift shop, cleaning the cave, and eliminating the tollbooth fee,” Held said. Park Manager Brain Held said the new features improve perception of the park to patrons. The park was closed so management could focus on renovations. After a 90-day closure Colossal Cave Mountain Park reopened to the public.