Caverns of Northern California
If you want a caving experience with a guide, there are plenty to choose from in northern California. The Gold Country area, east of Highway 99 and west of the Sierras, has several popular caves. Each is a unique experience, so I will attempt to lay out some distinguising characteristics.
California Cavern (9565 Cave City Road. Nine miles east of San Andreas.)
This is the oldest publicly toured cave system in the state. Starting in 1850, rooms of the cave were used regularly for church services, community meetings and political gatherings. This is a horizontal cave, so the amount of walking up and down is not as great as in other vertical caves. There are tours geared for the mildly adventurous to those who want to venture into undeveloped areas of the cave. The general tour is either the Tour of Lakes (offered in the wet season) or the Tour of Lights (offered in the dry season). Both are about an hour long.
Gold Cliff Mine (Angels Camp)
In its heyday this mine produced $3 million in gold and descended 1,900 feet below the Earth. The “Gold Cliff Adventure Trip” is by pre-paid reservation only. Groups can travel underground where a guide navigates them through deep passages and chambers. The route includes steep diagonal hiking, climbing, crawling and rafting across a 100-ft.-deep mine shaft.
Mercer Caverns (1665 Sheep Ranch Road, Murphys)
The cave was originally used by an Indian tribe called the Yokuts as a mortuary cave. They would bring the bodies to the opening and let them roll down inside. Because the site was considered sacred, no one was allowed to enter. Over many years the cave entrance filled with dirt, leaves and rocks and was not easily visible. In 1885 Walter Mercer, a gold prospector, “re”discovered the cave when, while sitting down to rest on a very hot day, felt a cool breeze coming from a small hole. Shortly thereafter he went to purchase the land, which cost him all of $1. Mercer Caverns is considered a vertical cave. It is 16 stories deep and contains 238 steps down and back up again. The guide stops often to to talk about points of interest of the cave. You don’t find yourself having to tackle too many stairs up at a time. However, many of the stairways are quite steep. The tour is 45 minutes long.
Moaning Cavern (5350 Moaning Cave Road, Vallecito)
Gold explorers first discovered this cave in 1851. (There was no gold, but there were human bones in the main chamber.) Moaning Cavern holds the largest vertical chamber in a public cavern one can see in California. It is so big, it could hold the entire Statue of Liberty. Moaning Cavern Adventure Park has a 1,500-foot-long twin zip-line and a 32-foot high climbing tower along with a nature trail and gemstone mining. There are three tour options: a 45-minute guided walking tour, a rappelling tour and an adventure tour, which combines rappelling and crawling through passageways.
Black Chasm Cavern (15710 Pioneer Volcano Road, Volcano)
The 50-minute walking tour shows off vast arrays of helictite formations. The Landmark Room currently has the greatest collection of sparkling helictite formations. This cavern tour is suitable for families and/or school groups.
Though not located in the “Gold Country”, an honorable mention goes to the Boyden Cavern in Kings Canyon, Giant Sequoia National Monument.
Boyden Cavern (74101 E. Kings Canyon Road, Kings Canyon National Park)
This cavern also boasts of being great for the whole family. It is 45-minute guided walking tour. Inside you will find the Bat Grotto, where on summer days bats spend their time sleeping. There is also a subterranean stream and other unique cave features. Half-day and full-day rappelling tours are available, as are half-day and full-day canyoneering tours with lunch and equipment included. Be aware that to get to Boyden Cavern you must drive through Sequoia National Park where the National Park Service charges each vehicle $20. This fee is unrelated to the Cavern and is in addition to the Cavern tour fee.
You’ve done a lot of research. Can’t wait to hear about your own caving experience!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Roy Scribner and Michael Garza, Debi Huang. Debi Huang said: Great overview of the caverns of NorCal on Tripping With Kids http://bit.ly/bUDfqQ [...]
my husband and i went to moaning cave. i love it! i was so scared of going down by using rappel alone, but after that, i felt great. we would love doing it again! we camped at sequiona park.
Inspirational idea! What a fantastic activity for kids, and brings back memories of going in a cave when I was younger. Consider ‘caving’ penned in on our summer to-do list!
I am Scoutmaster of a small troop of 6-8 boys ages 12-13. I am looking for a really “cool” caving experience that will knock their socks off–something like 2-4 hours rather than the typical 1 hour tourist tour. If possible some place we can reach from the Bay Area leaving on a Friday morning, and close enough to one of the better ghost towns that we could visit the next day. Any suggestions?