Caves in the Mother Lode Area

Over the Calaveras Amador county line is the city of Volcano where you will discover Black Chasm Caverns. With Beautiful formations including rare helictite crystals, soda straws and flowstones as well as the more common but still impressive stalactites and stalagmites. The cavern was part of the back drop scenery for the matrix underground city “zion.”

The California Caverns are one of the earliest officially recorded caves (1850) in the Mother Lode region of California. Historic documents verify that organized tourist activities as early as 1854. Although one of numerous caves in the Mother Lode region, California Caverns claims the distinction of having the most extensive system of caverns and passageways

The Kennedy Mine, having one of the tallest head frames and famous for being one of the deepest mines in California, at 5,912 feet, is open every Saturday, Sunday and Holidays from 10 am to 3 pm, March through October. They have a Mine Tunnel Experience, Steam Boiler Building, Head Frame/Shaft area, Stamp Mill Overlook, Underground Foreman’s Office, and a 1907 Mine Office Museum. The underground is always flooded, in 1942 skips would bail up to 60,000 gallons of water each day, today some water is pumped for irrigation.  

The 192 feet deep and a total of 3,389 feet surveyed Mercer Caverns are open for guided tours year round. Mercer Caverns has been toured by visitors since it was discovered in 1885.

Travelers may not know that they are in the tiny town of Vallecito when they visit the amazing Moaning Caverns. It is California’s largest public cave chamber, big enough to fit the entire statue of liberty! Guided tours take you down 234 steps in a spiral staircase built in 1922.