It was a long drive, but 4 CVAAS members convoyed from Fresno to the California Cavern at Mountain Ranch California.
The walk took about 70 minutes, and the caves were extremely interesting.
There was some damage to the caves, apparently they were discovered by a gold miner in the 1800′s . He thought he had a gold mine, but there was only marble and limestone. So being an enterprising chap, he started charging other gold miners for tours. (We’re told he made good money from this.)
Later, the local gold rush town used the caves as a place to party. The large cavern was used as a dance hall, and a smaller chamber was used as a wedding chapel.
As you can imagine, there was a lot of damage done to these parts of the cave. There is still some old mining gear in the cave left over from that time. In one portion of the cave, people left their “autographs” in clear 1800′s script. (I’m telling you, penmanship back then was excellent!)
Since the 1960′s, the cave has been part of the California parks, and is now conserved. As soon as it came under government ownership, one of the older cavers told the new owners of a crack that led to an untouched cavern – what is now named the “Jungle Room”. Under the State, the crack was widened and people were allowed to visit this pristine chamber. It was very beautiful there.
Later, professional spelunkers started exploring and adding new passages and chambers to the map of explored cave. They’re still at it even now, and have identified passageways to new chambers. The cave will probably be very extensive.
To see more, check out the photo album: CVAAS cave tour
