Hey Guys!! We made it back to Arizona! We stayed two weeks at a state park called Kartchner Caverns that looked interesting when I found it online…plus, there aren’t very many RV parks in this area of AZ.

The Benson area of Arizona is really close to several National Parks so we used it as a base camp to knock a few parks and places off of our to-see list.

One of those places was the old mining town of Bisbee. We’ve had a lot of cool experiences on this grand adventure we call OurRVTrip, but we hadn’t toured a mine yet so we headed to Queen Mine for a tour down into an old mine. We hadn’t made reservations for the tour, but managed to snag spots on one of the earlier tours of the day. Everyone gets a light that hangs around your neck, a cool neon safety vest and a super stylin’ hardhat to wear for the duration of the tour.

We also stopped by the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum. I’ll be mixing the pictures I got from both of these places…just FYI.

While we were on the mine tour, we learned about the mule trains they used to have down in the mine. The mules were only supposed to pull four carts at a time and if the miners got in a hurry and tried to tack on another cart…the mules refused to move. Ha! We also learned that the mules spent so much time down in the mines that the iris/pupil in their eyes would stop working after a certain time. The mining company would watch it closely and when it happened the mules had a special hood that would go on and they would be taken back up to the surface. Every day or so a slit in the hood near their eyes would be made bigger until their eyes were back to normal. Once their eyes were normal, the mules were retired to a nice field where they got to live out the rest of their days in comfort.

In 1877, while on a mission to find renegade Apaches up in the Mule Mountains of southern Arizona, tracker Jack Dunn found signs of mineralization. Not long after, the first mining claim was staked in what would eventually become the city of Bisbee. It wasn’t long before Bisbee became known as the “Queen of the copper camps.”

By the early 1900s Bisbee was the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco. People from all over came to the area to try and get a piece of the mining dream. In true mining town fashion, the mining company owned the town and all of the stores.

Over the years, Queen Mine produced almost three million ounces of gold, more than eight billion pounds of copper, and over three hundred different minerals…including silver, lead, and zinc. Bisbee’s minerals still rank as some of the world’s best.

In the mid 1970s the mine closed down even though the minerals weren’t depleted. There are still tons of minerals in the mine. But the company moved to other parts of the country and world where they’re still mining today. It’s said…that eventually, the company will go back to Bisbee and continue mining the Queen Mine. When the company left, they gave all of the buildings and businesses to the residents of Bisbee.

We really enjoyed our day in Bisbee. Walking around the town, checking out some of the old businesses that are still open. If you’re ever over in that part of Arizona, Bisbee is definitely worth a day or two of exploration!

It always feels more like camping when we stay at a state park. You’d think that most RV parks would have fire rings, but they don’t. At least…not the ones we stay at. So, when we get a spot with a fire ring…we thoroughly enjoy some actual camping.

Kartchner Caverns State Park is really known for its…well…caverns (caves). We were looking forward to doing a tour, but decided that the $25 a piece plus not being able to take any pictures or videos…made it less interesting for us. So, we went hiking instead. We couldn’t complain about the views.

The day we pulled into the park, we spotted a trail that meandered its way up the hill. We went into the park visitor center to ask about it, but the Rangers there told us that the trail we were looking at wasn’t a trail and that it wasn’t even in the park…that there was no way to get to it from the park.

We actually found our way up to that old mining road. There was a trail right from the back of the park up to it. I’m not sure what that Ranger thought we were talking about. We saw several old mines on our hike…all with signage for people to stay out. We didn’t get anywhere near them, but they were neat to spot.

We also found a cow. Just one cow out chilling by herself…she didn’t seem to appreciate us popping up over the trail on our way back to the campground. We figured if the area was safe enough for a single cow…we should be safe from any big predators (mountain lions).

In Benson, we found quite a few really neat murals. I somehow only got pictures of these two…but the others were all just as good.

We were pleasantly surprised by the foodies we found in Benson! We spent several meals at the Horseshoe Café. If you go there make sure to get the Almond Joy Cake…it’s probably the best cake I’ve ever had out. We also found a spice store and Prickly Pear gummies!!

In the next post I’ll tell you all about the National Monuments we visited while we were in the area!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour