A Year of Wonda 2026

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CA Caverns Day 1: Moaning Caverns & Mercer 

To those who know the story, please indulge sacred repetition. All good things cycle. Good is a shared state. I’d been thinking about 68 for over a month. Birthdays are a time to reflect and give thanks.

I went on a road trip the week before to see the caverns a bit north of here. Travel involves meal preparation for the week to come. I had really yummy meals: baked chicken thighs, chicken bone broth, granola with baked apples, lentils, summer squashes, fresh apples,  roasted garbanzo beans for snacks; yogurt, oat bran for hot cereal, baked apples for breakfast, baked yams, cooked kale. I found this really nice healthy food store where I found veggie chips and more apples. The zucchini and yellow squash chips along with root veggies were good. 

Day 1, I visited two caverns near Angels Camp: Mercer Caverns in

Calaveras County, near Murphys ($24) and Moaning Caverns Adventure Park in Vallecito ($27.56). I was running late, so I started at Moaning Caverns which is distinguished by a 100-foot spiral staircase. Walking down was easy; it was the steep climb back up that had me huffing and puffing.

It is “California’s largest single cave chamber.” Though we didn’t see any distress signals, Moaning Caverns was fun. I am glad I did the hard climb first.   Mercer, in comparison was a bit easier to climb; however, a body feels the descent and ascent.

Black Chasm on Day 2 was pretty phenomenal. I am not sure if it was the Cavern's national landmark status or the fact that it was the model for The Matrix movie's Zion scene, but I really enjoyed my time there. They also had a senior discount on the ticket ($20). After I left Black Chasm, I drove for four hours to Mount Shasta. I arrived at dusk. The next day I was up early to go to Mt. Shasta Caverns, which was $46, and featured several different transportation modes, from a boat to the island where the cavern was in the mountain, to the bus ride up the hill. The ride up the mountain featured lovely vistas of Lake Shasta, which I hadn’t known was made from four rivers.

It was really nice and cool inside the cavern. The walk down through the different chambers was deceptively easy until we had to climb back to the top.

What’s nice about the tours are the different voices of the guides. Mount Shasta Cavern actually had a book that reviewed the history of the cavern with photos. As we moved down to the Cathedral Chamber, there was a light show with music, which I hadn’t expected.

I really enjoyed the adventure: driving to new sites and their exploration. It was pretty driving through Shasta Trinity National Forests surrounded by trees and water. 

Day 1 Moaning Caverns

                         

                        

                   

                    

                  

                                                    

Day 1 Mercer Caverns