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Moaning Cavern Park
Rating Details »
- Hours:
Mon-Fri. 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sat-Sun. 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
31 reviews for Moaning Cavern Park
Moaning Cavern is the largest single cavern cave in California or the West Coast for that matter, limestone and over 400 feet deep, tour guides say large enough to fit the Statue of Liberty inside. Our family has been visiting it for about 30 years. Other humans obviously much longer as the oldest human remains, skeletons, in North America were found at the bottom.
It's hard to shake the horror story of the people whom "discovered" this cave about 13,000 years ago, one moment walking through a grass covered field (probably looking for food like we use Yelp for today), and then suddenly dropping into a black hole and falling for what must have seemed like an eternity to an untimely death 410 feet below, perhaps only to see a tiny dot of fleeting sunlight moving away for a final time.... Mercy. They say someone has fallen in the thing on average once every 130 years. Now -that- would suck! :)
As others have mentioned it's a hot spot to rappel down, and I was shocked that my mother and brother did it. I used the 280+ steps some odd creaky, really scary spiral staircase down to the bottom, as -always-. You can keep your ropes. :)
Most certainly one of the coolest things to see in the California former Gold Rush area just a few miles outside Angels Camp. Total 5 stars and a must see. Awesome fun and friendly staff that love the cave and showing it to you. You should set aside at least a few hours or make it a whole day.
Note: No food available so bring food and water with you.
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This was my first time visiting Moaning Cavern and we did the Rappelling with the adventure tour. Let me first say that if you go, try to get Jack as your guide. He's hilarious and great fun along the way.
First I should say that if you are afraid of heights at all, do not do the Rappel! Unless you're like me and thrive on overcoming your personal fears. When you first go down the hole into the cave, you can't really see how far down it is because you first rappel down to a ledge and then go over. Once you go over the edge, you have about 10 feet where you actually have a wall that you can rappel off of, but after that it's a straight drop for the remainder of the rappel. It's seriously high up, totally scary, and completely exhilarating!
The rappel is followed by an adventure tour lead by your guide with a group of people. The group we had were awesome, super friendly and everyone helps each other. If you are claustrophobic, this is not for you. You will be squeezing through extremely small holes. Your guide will...well...guide you, so I never felt lost or overwhelmed. But it is very physically exerting, dirty, and sometimes the air is a little stale.
Spend the night too! There are so many things to see and do in the area - Angel Camp's downtown area is one of the most charming places I've been.
If you are interested in a great adventure that you'll long remember - check it out! We had a blast!
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Rappelling, the seven deadly sins of my life.
Greed- Gold mines turn out to be marble stone mines...
Lust- Crazy thoughts were in my head when he specifically told me to straddle the ropes... Think else where...
Gluttony- I was starving and wanted to consume food at the very instant before I was roping my petite body down the hole. Talk about excessive desire for food....
Wrath- I was beyond upset, I was upset because I was stuck for a bit.
Sloth- I wasn't lazy, I was beyond tired
Envy- I can't believe my partner finished before me
Pride- My pride overcame everything at the end
I think after the rappelling the zip lines can't compare to the experience you had while roping yourself down the 160 ft cave( 4000 ft if you fall).
Talk about silent, but can be deadly.
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I came to Moaning Caverns ready for an adventure, and boy did I get one! I knew I would be repelling and crawling around in caves, but it was waaaaaaay more work than I expected.
Our reservation was at 9:30, so we made sure we got there early to check in. There were only seven people in our group, but they can take up to ten people per tour. They have coveralls for you so you don't get your clothes dirty, but our guide said it can get really humid underground, so we didn't have to wear them. Nobody in our group used them...we all decided to get nice and diiiiirrrty. They also have a bucket of knee pads....use them!
You watch an instructional video on how to rappel, and then they throw you down the hole and say good luck...see you at the bottom! Just kidding!!!....they make sure you have all your equipment on and explain things to you again....then you get thrown down the hole( http://static.px.yelp.... ). Rappelling was awesome! It was a bit tough at first, but once I got the hang of it, I was able to enjoy it. The rocks were pretty slippery, so I had to make sure I had one hand out so my face didn't smash into the wall. The scariest part was when I entered the main cave and looked down and saw a big black hole. Uhh...where am I going??? But then I looked behind me and saw the guide who pulled my rope to the landing. *phew*
Once everyone was safely down on solid ground, we began our spelunking adventure. We crawled and climbed our way through the caves, and it was awesome! At one point, our guide had us turn off all our lights, and it was pitch black. You actually start seeing things when you sit in the dark for a while. Some parts of the cave were really tiny....you definitely have to be a bit flexible to get through some of these spots. I have wide hips, so I would keep getting wedged in. Here's how the conversation would go with my friend.....
Me: I'm stuck....I can't move my hips...
Jen: Twist your hips sideways....
Me: ahhhh...I can move again...*wiggle wiggle wiggle*....
.....and repeat about 4 times.....
You definitely need to have some upper body strength for this because you need to push and pull your way through the caves. At the very end, you have to climb up a wall, and the only thing you have to help you is a rope. I was so tired by the end, I had to keep stopping mid-way up the wall to catch my breath.
It was an awesome but very tiring adventure. Next time I'll have to prep myself and do some push ups and pull ups first. And I'll have to wrap my knees/shins in bubble wrap. I ended up looking like I got beat up!
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This place kicks so much ass.
We did it all.
Rappel, zipline, rock wall and 'panning for gold'
First off - what all the others say are true. The adventure tour is the way to do it. I DID NOT do the adventure tour - we didn't have the 3 hours needed to crawl throughout the cave. However, we did the highlight of the adventure tour - the rappel.
The rappel is indescribable. I was SO scared and nervous but made it all the way down - as slow as molasses and focusing on my breathing the whole time. I was too close to peeing my pants to enjoy the 165 foot cave I was hanging down from. The start of the rappel is so deceiving - its all enclosed and you use your feet - but when you get to the first ledge and just DROP... dangling on a string not NEAR a rock wall. It is SCARY.
Once at the bottom - rest and listen in on the tour that is down there. Then walk up the 284 totally freaky rusted spiral stairs all the way to the top (this seemed more tiring and scary than the rappel - but after the fact).
This was once in a lifetime and I am so proud of myself for doing it. CHECK IT OUT. The rappel and zip line "Action Pack" is $93.
Next was the zip line - it is ONE long (1/4 of a mile) and fast zip. It's fun and great to experience - they let you do tandem zips and 'superman' style once you have gone a few times. You must pay for each zip trip. This is NOTHING like the ziplinging I did in Kauai. I'd give this a B- on the zip lining scale.
If you have any energy left and want to feel like a complete loser. The rock wall is $5 and you get 3 climbs. It's hard as hell. But fun to race your friends on.
For the kiddies there is a panning for rocks thing. You can buy bags of 'dirt' - the largest being $7 - and then poor it into screens over a water trough and the kids can pick/pan out the cool colorful rocks. My nephew took this VERY seriously. He left very happy with his 12 or so colorful rocks.
Additional NOTES:
There are a bunch of free wineries nearby this place!
It is 2.5 hours from San Francisco
2 hours from Sacramento!
NO food - bring a picnic! There are lots of tables
They have 2 huge birds in outdoor cages that talk.
There is a gray cat that lives in the main visitor center - he is very nice and very soft.
I do not think I can describe the rappel good enough. 2 minutes into this video shows it clearly: http://www.youtube.com...
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Who wants to go zip lining?! I sure didn't but I sucked it up and took one for the team and it was the best experience ever. From one end to the other is approximately 1500 feet and nothing is below you but your dangling feet and trees.
Anyways, they strap you up in heavy gear at the bottom of the hill and then a car comes and drives you up to where the hut is that you will be taking off from. When they hook you onto the line, they give you instructions. KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN AND DON'T SIT UP! Lean back and stay that way as you were instructed. If you close your eye you will miss out on awesome experience and then what's the point of doing it in the first place? If you sit up you will most likely get stuck midway. I slowed down at the end and they thought I would get stuck and they told me it's because I don't weigh much. So if you're little, prepare yourself...but don't panic but they will save you. Hehe.
And off you go! It probably last 15 seconds and there are people at the end to catch you. I guess some places they make you break on your own but this place does it for you. Once you're done a car is there to drive you back down.
I also suggest you do the cave tour. If you are claustrophobic, I strongly suggest you don't do it. I saw some people go down a few steps and come back up. There are hundreds of flights so prepare yourself. It's extremely tight but once you get to the bottom it's an awesome experience. I felt like I was in a movie. Lol. Anyways, they also had repelling where you basically are hung from a rope and repel all the way down to the bottom of a cave. I was too chicken to try that out but if you got the balls, do it!
I strongly suggest you get the package: zip lining, repelling and the tour. It's worth it and you won't regret it. I have found my new found hobby and that's zip lining! Now my mission is to zip line in every country available so I can compare the experience :)
Front desk is a little confused, slow and unorganized sometimes.
But the Adventure Trip is AMAZING. There's nothing like climbing and crawling through crevices and small confined spaces, getting DIRTY and worrying for your life (or bodily injury) at every other step. It's an adrenaline rush that I'd love to do over and over and over again :)
It's like rock climbing in all different directions: head first, legs first, butt first, face first, back climbing sideways climb, climbing through, up, over, under and to the left... it's such a cool experience.
I think the other reviews do it complete justice.
I can't wait to come back! :D
p.s. I'm not a skinny, tiny person and if I can do it, so can you.
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Never been caving and I'm claustrophobic. But with the encouragement of friends I committed. I did the Rappelling, the Adventure Trip, and the Zip Lining. When I was putting on my gear for the rappelling I could only see the first part of the rappelling, like 20 feet, down to a platform so I was like oh cool this is nothing. Then I was told there is another hole after the platform that you have back into... Ok, so I almost sht in my pants when I got to the platform and realized what I got myself into. I was basically going down a million feet in open space. People down in the cave seemed so small. The view was amazing but I was kinda scared so I didn't enjoy the view as much as I should have. But man! It was the best part of the whole day. You gotta be careful and alert when you're doing the rappelling if it's your first time. There is no wall for support for more than half way down the cave so you're hanging in the air and going down. The Adventure Trip (going through the wholes in the cave) was pretty good too. Mallory was our guide; she was really cool and chill. Luckily everyone in our group of 7 who was on this tour was pretty chill, funny, and helpful.
Once you do the Rappel you can get a card from your tour guide that lets you do subsequent rappels for only $22. You can also get a zip card that gets you a discount after so many times. Also, after 2 tries you can do it superman style
Advice
Clothing: They'll give you knee pads and a hard hat so you don't need to bring any. Wearing shorts is ok but pants are better because you will scrape yourself pushing along stone or accidentally lose your grip/footing going down a vertical whole. Gotta wear hiking or running shoes. But know that you'll still slip because the stone is slippery and for the most part there aren't good footing wholes in the cave.
Food: Eat before so you have stamina. Bring food because you will be hungry afterwards and they don't sell food there. Make sure you empty unnecessary bodily fluids before you start.
Emotional Support: If this is your first time and you're not very brave or you're claustrophobic, make sure you're going with people you trust and are comfortable with. At times I asked my friend to go before me and direct me as to how to come through and also provide some lighting for me...
Physical: If you're not friendly with wieghts or don't go to the gym that often you will get sore and shaky after some point. You will need to pull yourself up and there ain't much space to secure your footing. So if you care to strengthen a bit by all means do it.
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Wow, I agree with those people who went on the Rappel tour and thought it was crazy fun! I am a little scared of heights and somehow didn't realize that there was going to be a straight drop down. I thought my feet would be on the cavern wall and not just dangling!
Overall, the rappel part starts with you going down a little hole in the rock. It is a little awkward at first as you figure out how to do it. There is a small landing as well if you decide its not for you or if you want to turn around. But as scared as I was, I just decided to go for it anyway!
Next you sort of emerge from the hole that you were in and the cave opens up larger. During this part you do a lot of free dropping. This is the part where I just kept looking up, was dripping sweat out of anxiety, and was just pulling on the rope as fast as I could. Yes I could have taken some more time to enjoy seeing the cave walls up close, but I was so busy trying to not look down and panic!
Overall I had a TON of fun and I would definitely do it again. But I enjoyed the rappelling the most and thought the cave was decent. If you are just going to see the cave, it looks like many other caves and there isn't anything particularly special about the place besides the rappel and the zip line. I didn't zip line here myself, but I've zip lined before and the zip looked long and probably fun. I couldn't really tell if there was more than just the 1 zip line though.
Also, the staff at Moaning Cavern seems like a bunch of HS kids dressed up in ranger looking outfits looking bored while they make you watch this stupid rappelling safety video, and I thought it was a bit pricey for the experience, but overall it was really fun.
Yes, I admit it, I'm a geek fascinated by rock formations and caves. My wonderful bf knowing my geek tendencies and my love for adventure decided to surprise me with a trip to Moaning Caverns.
We decided to do the 3 hour ADVENTURE TOUR w/Rappel ($130/person).
I found myself rappelling into a cavern 165 feet below ground. The rappel experience is invigorating and my favorite part of the tour. First you are surrounded by rock on both sides of you and then you are dangling in the middle of a huge vertical cavern with only the ropes and harness to support you.
Heart racing and amazing.
The rock formations are incredible. While some would feel a bit of anxiety dangling from a 165 foot rope in the middle of a cavern that can house the Statue of Liberty, I was in awe of the beauty the rappel allows you to experience from that perspective. Absolutely breathe-taking stalactites, almost looks soft to the touch.
After the rappel, you are unhooked from the rope supports. This is your last chance to stand erect because the rest of the tour you will be for the most part, on your knees.
While lowering ourselves by rope into our first tunnel, you can view bone remnants gathered under a huge boulder of prehistoric people who had fallen into the cavern thousands of years ago. A bit humbling, I might add.
This is where you start crawling or lie flat on your tummy while pulling yourself through 6 tight squeeze tunnels that are sometimes muddy, slippery, and small to say the least. Definitely not recommended for those who are claustrophobic or afraid of the dark. A few of the squeezes are aptly named "the meat grinder", "Godzilla's nostril", "the pancake squeeze", and "the chimney". Well named for good reasons.
You can only get through "the pancake squeeze" by lying on your back between two big slabs of rock that are inches apart. You are then supposed to catapult yourself with your feet by pushing yourself off a rock in hopes that you pushed yourself far enough to pull yourself out with your hands.
After squeezing, pulling, and slithering through these tight spaces, you scale rock with the help of a rope to only find yourself once again in the huge cavern from where you began.
This is where I was disappointed. I expected that we were crawling to another magnificent cavern that only us brave cave squeezers could go.
ZIP-LINE TOUR $79/per person for 3 zips.
Since we were already here, we decided to zip through the air in hopes to reach 40 miles per hour from one platform to the next. I raced my bf on the 1500 foot twin zip and of course the winner is writing this review.
Not for those who are afraid of heights.
OVERALL: The rappel is awesome and I would do it again. The crawling through tight tunnels is a good physical challenge that you should experience at least once. I would do it again if I was crawling to another unreachable spectacular cavern that you can only reach through crawling. The zip lines are fun but incomparable at price and beauty when done in the rain forests of Costa Rica.
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this was very fun... the walk back up is a little ouch on the legs..
Boyfriend and loved this place.
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the adventure tour is definitely in like the top 6 maximum funness times of my life. you start by rappelling down 165 ft into the cavern. the tour guide helps you down the first 30 ft, then you're on your own (very scary).
after we all landed, we began the cave exploration, where you crawl and squeeze your way lower and lower into the cave. for the next 2 hours or so you are either on your belly, on your butt, or on your back. you don't get to stand up (unless you're ridiculously short) until you exit the cave again. during this portion you get to see the heliocite room, a tight squeeze we call "godzilla's nostril", the "oh crap! how do i get out of this hole room", and the pancacke squeeze. be prepared to get DIRTY!! i began to understand why almost all the coveralls the tour provided were assless.
when you finish the crawl, you gotta pull your tired ass out of the cave by monkey climbing up a slippery verical tunnel. there is a rope, but by this point your arms are so tired, the rope is practically worthless. then you have to climb the stairs up the part where you rappelled 165 ft down. needless to say, the cave whooped my ace!!
as if they didn't offer enough excitement already, there are optional ziplines outside as well. if you get the 3 zipline package, you get to go superstyle on the 3rd time. after doing it superstyle, i will never go back to regular! the jurassic park truck driver was telling us about the full moon ziplines the workers do. sounds fun!!! after you're done ziplining, they offer you a discount card, so when you go back you get $15 off each zip. plus, if you got to do it superstyle by getting the 3 pack, then you get to do it superstyle anytime when you come back. but i have to say the best part of the zip lines was the cutie working the upper tower :3
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For my first time cave crawling, Moaning Cavern was an OK experience. A couple friends and I did both the rappel and the adventure tour. For $130 total, I was expecting more. Nevertheless, I'm still glad I went.
After you check in at the gift store, they give you a quick briefing. They say elbow pads and knee pads are optional, but if you're doing the rappel and the adventure tour, get both. Also, they don't seem to really care whether or not you bring a camera, although if you take the adventure tour, you probably wouldn't want to take anything fancy lest you smash it. After they show you a quick instructional video, they take you to the back room where there's a big gaping hole in floor.
That's when they drop you in, butt first, as you descend 165 feet down the cavern. For the first 45 feet or so, it's a little awkward, it's easy to lose your balance and do a spin or two, or to get your feet a little tangled in the ropes. But once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy. You feed your line into a J-hook, a kind of pulley that works using friction, and that's what drops you down the hole.
At one point, the cavern opens up, you don't have anything to kick your feet against, and you're hanging from your rope in the middle of a vertical tunnel. It's actually a lot less scary that it sounds. Since you're leaning back on the way down, it's actually hard to get a good look at the distance between you and the pit. You also realize that it's easier to drop down without having rocks to kick against. The rappelling doesn't take long, maybe 15 minutes or so.
The main chamber is pretty amazing. The formations almost have an organic appearance, some like columns of jelly fish, other like coral. There's also a small pool of bluish liquid with rocks floating in it, and another pit that drops down into a dark abyss.
This is where the adventure tour begins. It starts out easy enough, walking through a tight cavern, shining your helmet lights on the rear quarters of the person in front of you. But as you go further in, areas like "the pancake squeeze," "the chimney," and "the meat grinder" are aptly named. It's damp, solid rock with lots of uncomfortable, slippery nooks and crannies. There isn't much to see, it's mostly bruise-inducing shimmying and climbing. But for those that enjoy a good physical challenge, this may be right up your alley. Coming out, I did feel a sense of accomplishment.
On the way out, you climb the rusty spiral staircase. To be honest, I was probably more scared going up the rattling, rusty staircase than coming down the rappel. Unlike the rappel, you can see the entire drop down the cavern.
Then you finally get out, clothes a bit muddy, tired, and in need of a shower. There's no showers there, and they do advise that you bring an extra change of clothes and a plastic bag to throw your dirty threads in. Solid advice.
Looking back, I had a good time, but I don't think I'd do the same cave again. I was expecting more caverns like the one you rappel down, the area that you actually get to crawl through on the adventure trail is actually really small, like crawling up and down a two story chimney. We were also told that the California Cavern even has a boat ride at the end. That sounds pretty awesome. But as my first experience in a cave, Moaning Cavern was a good one.
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totally a fan. It was a 2.5 hour drive from SF and a one hour long labor day child intense wait for the rappel but I have to say it was all worth it.
Descending down like Batman is something I always secretly wanted to do. I know I looked up the entire way but if you are semi-afraid of seeing what little ground is underneath you I believe it is the only way to go. The caverns are so pretty and peaceful-who knew there would be so much in Vallecito, CA
I would definitely do it again. :)
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Honestly, once you've seen one cavern, you've seen them all. Just for the record it's 234 steps down and 234 back up a spiral staircase. My cousin rappled. Although he thought it was cool, he felt it was a bit boring as it's a tight squeeze for the first 65 ft or so you can't really see anything. Once you're in the opening it's a much better view. Not really worth the money though.
I gave it 3 stars only because I felt it was a boring trip inside but the zip line was awesome! If I could rate them seperatly, the cavern a 1 star and the zip line 4 stars. I would totally go back just for the zip line but I am looking into places closer to home with zip lines. If you want a good tour without all the stairs but still with lots of history, go with the California Cavern.
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I give this place only 2 stars b/c i foolishly left my camera with one of the tour guides. The Rappel was okay I was too scared to look at the views as I was rappelling though. Crawling tour took a while but pretty good experience.
Her toured(the walking tour down to the caverns) ended earlier than the crawling one (That's the one i took. I was not aware I would be crawling into holes. If so I wouldn't have brought it at all.) I asked to to hold to it for me. I didn't know it would be left unattended at anytime. She did not bring it up to where the cashier was. When I came back from my tour it was gone.
We searched for it for a while but nothing turned up. I asked them to call me the day after but not surprisingly no one called until I called them. Of course no one returned it and took a little while for me to get to speak with the Manager. He seemed more frustrated with having to deal with the situation than sympathetic. about me losing my camera. ( Just my personal take on it) But he informed me that he spoke with the staff and didn't believe anyone would've taken it. Which I think is true also. He said he would give me a call on Wednesday to check if anything turns up. Wed. comes around and no call again so I called. He said the company will pay me for the camera and someone will call me about getting the info about how much i paid for it. But no one did.
About a week after the incident a woman calls me telling me they will just send a check to me. She caught me off guard at the time it was kinda early in the morning and she had woken me up I just said okay and she hung up. I called later in the afternoon to see if i can speak with the manager and a woman picked up and was extremely rude when i told her who i was and what it was regarding. She informed me that it was the owner that i spoke with in the morning and she wasn't in the office today. She rudely took down my name and phone number and hung up on me when i asked for her name. I called right back but it was a differently woman that picked up.
I can't express how disappointed I am with dealing with this company and staff. The communication was rude and not genuine at all. I do not think i will be recommending anyone of my friends to come here. For those of you who will be a caution hold on to your own belongs for sure. Don't make the same mistake i did. Look up the information about your tour and see if its safe to bring your camera. I was told they will add a new release item for you to sign about lost/stolen items. I am glad i will be returned something for my loss but at the same time it is sad because i miss the pictures the most and no amount of money can get those back. ):
Comment from Lisa B. of
Moaning Cavern Park
7/20/2009
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I took my 2 teenagers here while we were visiting Murphys and they weren't too impressed. Our tour guide looked and sounded like she was bored to death! I realize that she probably does the tour 20 times a day but still...at least try to fake some enthusiasm.
We only did the walking tour and going down the 100 and something steps was okay but getting back up was a whole other story! My kids of course had no problem but getting my big butt up all those stairs took some major effort. By the time I got to the top, I seriously thought I was going to faint. Also, because of the spiral staircase, I experienced a bit of dizziness. My daughter wanted to do the rappel but there was no way in hell I was going to try that! I did want to try the zip line but they didn't want to and I was way too tired to argue!
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Just took the standard down the steps tour with the wife and daughter. Nice for their first experience in caving.
Scariest, coolest thing I've ever done in my life. Do the rappel. No kidding. You will crap your pants if it's your first time, but the guides will teach you and make you feel super safe and you'll want to go again right away. Hit some Lodi wineries on your way out of town, too!
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If there was ever a moment I thought I might poop myself, this was it.
I used to host singles events, and my club brought up 25 adventurous singles from the ages of 35-65. One of the perks of this job was i got to do what they did, get paid for it, and not have to pay admission to wherever we were. I figured, I'm young(ish), if they can do it, so can I.
So I start up at the top of the cavern....harnessed in and ready to rappel. I wiggle my way into the little tunnels, rappelling and climbing down at the same time. Till i get to what they call "the kissing rock". They call it this because its your last piece of rock to rappel off of, and a lot of people do it wrong and end up bashing their face in to the rock, or as they call it...kissing. I think Ive kissed boys before that felt the same.
At this point, after the bad kiss, I am just dangling by the rope in the middle of this huge, expansive cavern....HOLY S@#T! Breathe Lauren, just breathe....I don't think i can do this!! How do i use the rig/levers/what are these called? Eeeek! Once I get over the fact that its just me, my rope and the weird moans that this space makes, I hung there for a bit taking it all in. It was beautiful and enormous and amazing that nature could create something like this.....and then we make it a tourist attraction. Then, I basically let the thing go loose, and plummeted down the cavern, praying for my life....and landed. Not very gracefully I might add.
If you aren't down with the rappelling, you can take this stairway down.....but to be quite honest, its pretty rickety and probably just as scary. Also, keep in mind that this is not for the faint of heart or the claustrophobic. There are MANY tight spots during the rappel.
Things I learned about myself.
1) rappelling wont cause me to poop myself.
2) adrenaline makes me know I'm alive
3) i am a little scared of heights
4) hanging with middle aged single people will increase my confidence to do crazy shit.
4) i think i wanna go skydiving. (stay tuned....this might happen sooner than later.)
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I've been here twice.
The first time we took my grandma and she couldn't go down because she was in a wheelchair.
There is a rickety old spiral staircase that you climb down on the basic tour. The "Fun Sounding Tour" includes rappelling down the main hole (it's now enclosed so no moaning) and into the cavern, followed by some dirty crawling action into the deeper parts of the cavern. I think this one's been fully explored and is pretty safe for novices.
That said, it's a cheap funky way to cap off a visit to the motherlode country.
The legend is that animals would run into the cavern hole thinking it was a safe hidey hole, but there is almost immediately a drop to doom for both prey and their close predators; so when the cave was first being "explored", they found an ancient-to-fresh pile of bones. There was a hunter down there and also a mother who had curled around her infant. Saddies. Not all of the tour guides know about all the bones.
The moaning was from the wind blowing over the the opening. Also, the water dropping in the puddles added to the creepiness, and the natives in the area had legends that the cave was crying.
In the summer time, I highly recommend going down the road a bit (like 2 miles total) to Twin Bridges and picking berries on the descent to the creek bed, followed by some amature spelunking into the creek cave. Neato-ness.
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Warning if you are afraid of heights don't go. To get to the tour you must use a 100 foot spiral stair case according to the tour guide was built from a old WW1 recycled steel. I have been to several caverns through out the US this is not special.
There is one unique part of this tour you can rappel down 165 feet from the main entrance into the cavern. I tried to bribe my 16 year old but he refused.
Check the web site for tour information, during the busy sumer month you will have to wait.
Small gift shop above ground.
They say Moaning Cavern doesn't moan much anymore on its own, so they rely on unsuspecting tourists dangling 160ft above on a wet rope to provide the sounds.
Unbelievable.
This place is so large that you could fit the Statue of Liberty inside with room to spare. As was mentioned by Natalia, you walk down hundreds of stairs or you can rappel. I highly recommend the rappel. It's not cheap, but you'll remember it the rest of your life.
I'm a tall guy, 6'4", and while cramped in spots on the second chimney, the bumps and scratches were worth it to emerge from darkness into the lit cavern (see photo.)
I'd like to return to try the full adventure tour sometime soon.
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Love adventure? then you gotta come here and do the 3 hours adventure tours. First you have to rappel down the cave into this chamber huge enough to hold the statue of liberty! Well, if you are not adventurous enough to do the rappel, you can choose to go down using the stairs, but of course, I do suggest everyone take the rappel. It was so much fun and the view that you see once you get into the chamber while hanging onto the rope, is worth all the panic/nervous you spent worrying whether you are going to bump yourself onto the rocks or fall onto the cave straight down. No view is better than nature. Once you are down, you will then be taken into all sort of twist, tight and interesting spaces where you have to crawl, climb, lied down, pulled yourself into the other space. All the people working there are friendly and helpful. It is definitely worth the trip up.
Don't forget to bring extra clothes cause even though they gave us suit to wear, our clothes inside will still get muddy.
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I remember going down the stairs as a child, and my mom freaking out because of the height, or the fact that she was enclosed in a cage in a cave (claustrophobia x2?). She literally froze so my dad had to carry her down the steps.
I returned about 20 years later to test my mettle going down the rope. I discovered that I had in the intervening 20 years developed a fear of heights; the fact that the 160-foot drop below me was not high up in the air but technically below the ground didn't really help.
Not to worry, I thought, because repelling would be the perfect way to conquer the fear. So I did it three more times (luckily there's a $20 discount after your first time). I guess I did get a little bit over my fear.
When I did the 3 hour tour, I saw the rest of the cave. It's not that beautiful down below, but it's muddy and fun. I was not haunted by spirits of dead involuntary spelunkers of yore, but I was nagged by the residual fear from almost stepping into a 200 foot drop into a lower cave that coincidentally didn't have enough oxygen to breathe in.
I think the cave employees were amused that I took two fastidious people with me. The fastidious friends of mine, on the other hand, had not anticipated the degree to which we would get muddied, and were not exactly a model of grace & poise following the adventure. Just picture two wet, dirty, pissed-off cats and you'll have the right idea.
I would go again. They wouldn't.
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Like others have mentioned, be aware of the constraints of this particular cavern tour. You will be using extremely steep stairs to access the cavern, so you should not be claustrophobic or afraid of heights. With that said, this cavern is breaktaking in that it is HUMONGOUS. Apparently, the statue of liberty can fit inside of it, it is that big. So imagine going down stairs all the way to the bottom of the cavern...
The walking tour gives you about an hour in the cavern, for $15/adult. You will pretty much just sit at the floor of the cavern and ask your guide questions--there isn't much else to do except just be amazed. Water is fed though the cavern so that you can hear the "moaning" sounds of the water drops. Pretty fascinating.
However, much like the other tours, once you've visited the cavern, there really isn't need to revisit unless you've forgotten everything. Nothing changes (it takes a span of a gazillion years or so for a difference to be made) and the tour is constant. Aaron was our tour guide, and he was really enthusiastic, so that certainly helped.
Unlike the other caverns, you don't really get as dirty; you just need to be able to access the stairs.
& The humidity is great on the skin!!
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This was the second time I've been here. I've heard multiple comments about this being the "deepest shaft in California" and such, but despite the obvious humor I'm pretty sure that's false. As for the actual descent, no rappelling for us. The welded spiral staircase is enclosed so there's really no chance in falling.
The cavern doesn't moan anymore but this is still easily worth the $12.95 per person - especially on a weekday with a good guide - not sure about the rappelling, and there are probably more satisfying places to visit for a 3-hour spelunking tour given that this cavern isn't all that big.
Cool spot, walked down the spiral staircase and learned the history of the cavern. I saw it on a local show and just happened to pass by it on my way home from camping. Glad I did!
This place is awesome! Last year they had a concert with grammy winner Mary Youngblood - native American flute player. It was fabulous. Watch out for more underground concerts. Apparently she recorded her first album inside the massive main chamber. This concert was casual - we all brought our own seating to put on the cave floor. Mary Youngblood passed out percussion instruments and we got to accompany her and her flute group.... it was a spiritual experience.
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Well we went to visit some friends that live in Murphys. We had no idea there was a cavern here...but off we went. We went on a weekday there was hardly anybody around. Sooo we inside paying the admission ...and boom there was this HOLE!!! I thought oh how interesting people actually go down that way...Then I found out it's for spelunking. PHEWWW I knew we weren't going to do that. Next thing I know the dude says he wants to do it...next thing I knew I said "ME TOO!!" I think I had to close his mouth after that. He was shocked. I was even more shocked if not mortified! I have a total fear of heights. I don't think I knew what I was getting into. The man helped me harness up. I decided it's now or never so I said I'll go down first. What in my right mind would I even say that!! So as I'm about 6 inches into the hole I yell "I'm falling!!!!" The dude looked at the man...the man looked at my dude. The man says "I don't think she's moved an inch do you?" Well nobody prepared me for the kissing rock. And nobody told me that I would be dangling in air! Or maybe all I hear was my pounding heart racing! I looked down once...and never to do it again. I think I finally really stopped looking at the zipline until about 10 feet from the ground. I kept saying "If I pee on anybody down there I'm sooo sooo sorry." All I could hear was laughter from below.
What a frigging awesome feeling. Too bad we didn't have enough time to do it again. I would really want to again!
It's a must do!!!
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Well worth a look. This place is huge, and there some nice stalagmites or stalagtites, beautiful curtain formations, and one huge cavern. If you fall from the top, you will have 7 seconds to ponder your life before you are smashed back into separate atoms.