Subway Cave
Old Station (Shasta County, Hwy 89) · near Old Station / Burney · Shasta Cascade
Caving
At a glance
- Depth
- 20
- Season
- Year-round · Road may be closed in winter · Best May–October
- Cost
- FREE · No permit · Free parking
- Difficulty
- Easy · Mostly upright walking · Some low sections
Permits and booking
- Permit
- No permit. No fee. Managed by Lassen National Forest. Park in the pullout on Highway 89 near Old Station, approximately 10 miles north of Lassen Volcanic National Park's northern entrance.
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
- Gear
- Flashlight or headlamp (required — dark inside) · Light jacket (cave stays cool) · Sturdy shoes
Caving detail
- Nickname
- The Lassen Backcountry Lava Tube
- Cave type
- lava-tube
- Tour length
- 30–45 minutes · 0.25 mile through-cave
- Formations
- Lava tube formations · Bat habitat · Skylight openings with vegetation
- Featured caves
- Main Subway Tube · Skylight Section
- Intl tip
- Highway 89 between Lassen and Mount Shasta is one of the finest Northern California scenic drives in any season — Hat Creek Valley, the volcanic tablelands, and Burney Falls State Park (McArthur-Burney Falls, one of California's most dramatic waterfalls) are all within 20 miles. Subway Cave is the geological explanation for the landscape you're driving through.
The guide
Subway Cave is a free, self-guided lava tube sitting directly on Highway 89 between Lassen Volcanic National Park and Mount Sha…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Subway Cave — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 40.6747, -121.4302