moaning cavern

Nice Staff. Approx. $15 admission fee per person. Lot of steps. May be too much for kids under 6 and older people over 65. .IMAO.. Good to be in shape. Kind of tight at top stair case. I am 6'2" 200. Kind of hard to squeeze thru But OK.. All good fun.. Enjoy. OK even for mild claustrophobia. IMAO... Wear good shoes. Kind of damp and slippery. Light jacket may be required for some.

Visted with daughter and grandkids, they loved it. I have been here a few times, yes lots of stairs but well worth the Trek. This location also has the tallest welded spiral staircase in the US. The cavern is the main attraction, but they also have a gift shop, zip lines, repelling into the cavern and a climbing rock wall. Our tour guide was great giving us the history of the cavern and pointing out all the features and what they are called. The size of the cavern is deceiving, distance is the low light are less than they actually are. The highlight is when you reach the bottom and they point out formations they have named and then turning out the lights to experience how dark it really can be. If you are more adventurist, you can repell to the bottom of cavern. Warning, lots of stairs, cramped spaces and watch your head, that's why you wear a hard hat.

We had a bast dropping more than 100 feet into the west coasts biggest one-room cavern. Our guides put up with my hysteria has I lowered myself down the huge chasm on a rope. If you are into a geology or rocks of any kind, this is a must!

There's a reason Moaning Caverns doesn't offer a senior discount - it's not suitable for most of us! Lot's of climbing up and down stairs for not much reward. There are more impressive caves not too far away but this is a good place for people who haven't seen other caves or those who want to add zip lining and/or a climbing wall to their activities.Those who are overweight or have other health issues should think twice about embarking on this adventure.

And now I know why they call it the moaning caverns… after you walk down the 200+ stairs and then back again.… you will be moaning for a couple of days… do not a-temp this treck if you are out if shape :-(

Did the adventure tour. Includes 165' rappel and spelunkering through the cave. Must be reserved in advance. This was super cool. Not for the faint at heart. You watch a video and are given instruction for the rappel. If you want pictures, someone from your group will need to walk down since they don't allow anything on your person. Must reserve in advance for this tour. We had 5 in our group plus our awesome tour guide Doug. I wore a light weight long sleeve top and bottoms and sneakers (glad I did). You will get dirty and possibly some bruises and scrapes while going through the cave. They provide helmet with light, gloves, elbow and knee pads. Each person goes down the rappel separately, a bit scary, but it's awesome! Going through the caves there are some pretty tight spots, so some strength and agility are needed. There are a few places that you can get out if need be. At the end you go straight up about 45', it's not as hard as they make it sound; there are plenty of foot/hand holds and a rope with knots to use. The adventure tour does cost a bit, but it is worth every penny. I would do this again and again and again.

Fascinating geology and history of the cavern. Neat climb down the old steel stairway. Excellent interpretive guide. Good for inquisitive children and adults.

I took my 2 year old to the Caverns, He was apprehensive at first but quickly fell in love! The walking trip down the narrow passages and ridiculously tall spiral staircase was very worth the low price. I wrote about it http://asignoflife.net/a-saturday-in-a-cave-3/

I visited Moaning Caverns with my very fir daughter & son-in-law. The trek down is STRAIGHT down and the trek up is STRAIGHT up. 253 steps. It's a climb for an out of shape middle-aged woman but I did it and it was worth it! Beautiful, interesting formations and great young man as our tour guide. Worth the price of admission and my kids will go back for the adventure your another time. Great family fun. Jan. Poway CA.

I can't believe I forgot to add this to my review of Long Barn Lodge! Anyhow, my boys (7 and 9) visited Moaning Cavern and took their basic tour (they offer zip lining but it's expensive--maybe $37 per person for a one minutes ride). The tour guide was nice, patient and funny. The tour last about 45 minutes. If you are extremely fearful of heights AND aren't in reasonable physical shape, I would NOT recommend this cavern. The spiral case goes down quite a ways and some of the steps are pretty small but there is also a cage-like enclosure the whole way down. I'm not very tall but sure felt sorry for some of the taller people making their way down. For those that weren't in shape on our tour, a few had to stop and let others by while they caught their breath. The staircase's material were recycled from an old aircraft carrier.It's an interesting cavern rich in history and one of the deepest I've ever been in. Overall, for us (and even though I fit into the deathly afraid of heights category), it was pretty interesting as caverns go. Afterward, the kids shared a $9 bag of sediment rich with gems. They did a bit of panning (using a grate and water trough) and were thoroughly excited by their bounty.

It was my first time zip lining so I can't compare it to any other place that offers this, but it was a lot of fun, 1/4 mile of exhilaration. We also did the cavern tour which I believe is 165 feet deep. It was interesting to hear about the cavern's history. It was smaller than others I've been in, but it wasn't that expensive. When you are inside, it's hard to realize the magnitude of the depth. If you've been to Luray Caverns in VA, there is no comparison as it is much smaller.This place is about a two hour drive to Yosemite National Park gates, which is where we went the next day. We stayed overnight in Sonora at the Best Western in the one bedroom suite first. Be forewarned that if you are from a large city, this area is very, very country. I lost my cell phone data and gps.

My adult daughter recommended this. I was a bit surprised at how narrow the climb down was. If you're larger in frame, or claustrophobic, just be aware that it's tight for the first part - though it seemed much wider on the way up! lol. The tour guides are very knowledgeable, and go at a pace that's right for everyone. No jackets necessary in the summer! It's humid, not cool.There's also spelunking and zip-lining available. Small snacks and gift shop as well.

My wife and I have been in most of the caverns on the east coast and looked forward to the first one on the west coast. It was an extreme disappointment. The whole tour was down one big spiral stairway onto a platform. That was it. Very disappointed!

So I came here as a teen myself and I was so excited to take my kids. Now either my memory is severely warped or jumbled or this place really decreased the amount of the cavern you actually get to experience. They crammed us along with about 40 other people in a small room to go over basic rules and show us the original opening of the cavern, I think everyone was feeling a bit claustrophobic. Then they led us in to another area to descend the stairs then packed us in a portion of the cave to point out cool aspects and review safety going down the spiral staircase. The cavern is cool and not something you get to see so it was worth it but all you get to do is go down the stairs stand and have the guide point out some stuff then back up you go. I remember getting to walk around and explore the cave a bit. Maybe they've stopped so that people don't touch and ruin the formations. I think as long as you don't expect something different you can appreciate the coolness. My kids are pretty adventurous and wanted to do the rappel which we skipped because of the cost and glad we did! Even the kids said what a waste.

Our visit:On our first visit here to the Cavern, we took the 45 minute “Cavern Walk Tour.” In that tour, our guide took us through marble passages and down 234 stairs. At the bottom we were told that we were 165 feet below the ground. Our guide explained that excavations were conducted in which they discovered the bones of prehistoric people who fell into the cavern thousands of years ago. He went onto explain the history and geology of the cavern and said that further explorations have traced the cavern to its current depth of 410 feet. On our second visit here, we skipped the Caverns and went right for the zip-line that they installed in 2007. In 1849 or 1850, Captain Joseph Taylor (first person to discover the cave) was target shooting on a rocky outcropping and noticed his targets were being moved by a breeze which seemed to emanate from the rocks. Upon closer examination, he discovered the entrance to a cave, which he named “Mammoth Cave.”In the mid 1800’s, dynamite was used to expand a natural crack in the ground wide enough for stairs to be built down. Initially a narrow wooden staircase was constructed and extended 65 feet underground. In 1850, Taylor opened the cave for public tours, making it the first show cave in the state of California. In 1851, Moaning Cavern was “rediscovered by gold miners when they explored the cavern, hoping to make a big strike, but finding insufficient gold for mining purposes, abandoned it.In 1919, “the cave was once again rediscovered” and according to legend, tourists were lowered into the cavern in ore buckets with only candles or whale oil lamps to light their way. In 1920, tours of the cavern started in the summer.In 1922, a 100-foot steel spiral staircase was constructed and was the first all “arc-welded project” ever in California. The steel used came from the hull of a World War I battleship. Visitors climbed down and then up 235 stairs, 144 of which are on the spiral staircase.Moaning Cavern was named by early explorers who noticed a distant moaning sound created by drops of water that fall into holes in a flowstone formation with a bottle-like shape. The cave lost its moan when the spiral staircase was built due to debris being left in the flowstone formation's "moaning holes." In 1977, “the moan” was restored by Stephen and John Fairchild after they looked back through early records and traced the origin of the moaning sound. After clearing debris out of the holes and restoring the original flow of water in the cave, which had been diverted by the staircase construction, the brothers were able to bring this natural sound back.Moaning Cavern is the largest single chamber public cave in California and the main room is large enough to fit the Statue of Liberty inside it with some of the cavern formations reaching 25 feet in height. Moaning Cavern's total depth is approximately 410 feet.Some scientists believe Moaning Cavern may have at one time been a geyser like "Old Faithful."In 1980, the cave was renamed “California Cavern.”Moaning Cavern also became an archaeological site, where some of the oldest human remains known in America were discovered. Approximately 100 prehistoric humans were found at the bottom of Moaning Cavern. One skull was determined by uranium-thorium dating to be 13,000 years old and it’s believed that these people fell into the cave accidentally over many hundreds of years. The cave has long been the resting spot for the bodies of prehistoric people who fell into its opening.• “Clumsy people, after the first few, you would think they would’ve learned that it wasn’t safe to go into dark places!” “Signs weren’t invented yet!”In July 2007, twin zip lines were opened at Moaning Cavern Park. The launch tower is accessed by a 25-foot long sky bridge and is approximately 100 feet above ground. The cable is 1500-feet long and cable of reaching speeds in excess of 40 mph. Zippers brake gently at the landing tower and are unclipped from the cable. Moaning Cavern is located at the south end of Calaveras County, close to Tuolumne County, between Angels Camp and Murphy’s.