After a two-year hiatus, Grand Canyon Caverns near Peach Springs, Arizona, will hold its grand reopening at 10 a.m. on Feb. 1.
The ceremony will include a ribbon-cutting, followed by presentations by Grand Canyon Caverns representatives, according to a news release.
Starting with the 1 p.m. tour that day at the caverns, it is offering a 20%-off pricing for tickets throughout the afternoon by using the code 0201PROMO.
Under new ownership and management, Grand Canyon Caverns & Inn has made updates throughout the property. The caverns were acquired by the Tathil Oyaa’ Corporation, which in 2023 received a $10,000 grant from the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona to help rehabilitate and renovate the site.
Most significant is it installing a new elevator that takes visitors 21 stories underground to see the beauty of the dry caverns.
In 2022, five tourists had to be rescued from the caverns after being stranded by an elevator malfunction. A few were stuck down there for 30 hours.
Grand Canyon Caverns later was fined $6,250 and given three citations from the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health for the mishap.
“Safety of our guests is top priority when traveling 210 feet below the earth to explore the caverns,” said Scott West, the caverns’ general manager. “Our focus continues with lighted, paved paths and handrails throughout the caverns.”
The caverns also offers the opportunity to dine underground at the Crystal Restaurant (formerly the Grotto) or staying overnight in the Cavern Suite, which is proclaimed as “the deepest, darkest, quietest hotel room in the world!”
Grand Canyon Caverns also offers a restaurant that seats hundreds, parking for bus tours, a rally space for over 600 people and a soon-to-reopen gas station with a propane refill station.
The complex also offers accommodations from bunkhouses or a ranch house for small groups or large families, an RV park or campground that provides water, electricity and a dump station, plus a nostalgic Route 66 Inn that features queen and king beds.
“The community has been waiting for this day!” Carletta Tilousi, Grand Canyon Caverns board chairwoman, said of the reopening. “Millions of tourists travel to Northern Arizona each year and venture on the Historic Route 66 creating memories of their own. GCC is a great stop to stretch your legs and tour the caverns and enjoy a burger.”
Grand Canyon Caverns is the third-largest dry cavern in the world and the largest in the United States. Huge caverns, some large enough to hold a football field, display mineral formations, a sloth, a mummified bobcat and other great features.
When Walter Peck discovered the caverns in 1927 falling into the natural entrance, he thought he saw gold. Instead, he profited from tours by lowering tourists into a hole in the ground on a rope (once called “dope on a rope” with a candle).
A new entrance to the caverns was built by the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935.
After the elevator was installed in 1962, the natural entrance was sealed off at the request of the Hualapai Indians because it was considered a sacred burial place.
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We wish the new owner the best of luck in the future. We took the tour about 10 years ago and it was better than any other tour that we have taken, including Carls bad Cavern’s and a number of others.