Moaning Cavern Adventure Park
Vallecito (Calaveras County) · near Murphys / Angels Camp · Gold Country & Central Valley
Caving
At a glance
- Depth
- 165
- Season
- Year-round · Thursday–Monday 10am–4pm · Closed Tuesday–Wednesday
- Cost
- Spiral Tour (165-foot descent): varies · Walking Tour: varies · Rappel: California's tallest public cave rappel at 165 feet
- Difficulty
- Walking Tour: easy · Spiral Tour: moderate (165 steps) · Rappel: advanced (thrilling but safe with instruction)
Permits and booking
- Permit
- No permit. Tickets at Moaning Caverns Adventure Park. 5350 Moaning Cave Road, Vallecito, CA 95251. Zip-lining also available on-site — can be combined with cave tours for a full adventure day.
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
- Gear
- Jacket (cave maintains constant cool temperature) · Comfortable shoes
Caving detail
- Cave type
- limestone
- Tour length
- Walking Tour: 45 min · Spiral Tour: 1 hour · Expedition Tour: 2+ hours
- Formations
- California's largest single cave chamber · Statue of Liberty could fit inside · Stalactites & stalagmites · Chocolate Falls flowstone · Cave bacon strips
- Featured caves
- Spiral Tour — Main Chamber · Rappel Experience · Expedition Tour (Wild Cave)
- Intl tip
- Mercer Caverns is 15 minutes north of Moaning Cavern on the road through Murphys — combining both in a single day is the standard Gold Country cave experience. The historic town of Murphys (between the two caves on Highway 4) is one of the finest Gold Rush-era towns in Calaveras County — wine tasting, a Victorian hotel, and Murphys Hotel (where Mark Twain and Ulysses Grant both slept) make the in-between time worthwhile.
The guide
The name comes from the moaning sounds that echoed from the cave entrance before it was fully explored — water dripping onto fl…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Moaning Cavern Adventure Park — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 38.1081, -120.4556