Imagine being in a cavern, light glistening off calcite crystals embedded in stone walls made of limestone and marble. Water crashes on rocks as it falls from the ceiling high above your head.
The cavern tour begins with a cruise across beautiful Shasta Lake, followed by a ride in a comfortable tour bus offering the most scenic view you can get of the McCloud Arm of the lake. The caverns are a fascinating and enchanting view of Mother Nature’s beauty. Known as the “Little Carlsbad,” Lake Shasta Caverns offer a spectacle of speleothems (cave formations) such as soda straws, stalactites, stalagmites, cave coral, helictites and much more. The entire tour is two hours in length, including a one-hour trip through the caverns that explains this natural wonder. Lake Shasta Caverns is privately owned and part of the National Caves Association.
Offered on the site are two gift shops, a playground for children and a gemstone-mining sluice. The caverns also serve as an educational venue and classes are offered for second through sixth-graders in the Underground Classroom.
WHERE: 15 miles north of Redding and 1.5 miles east of I-5 on Shasta Caverns Rd. Exit 695 (google map)
MORE INFO: 800-795-CAVE (2283) | ShastaCaverns.com