Moaning Cavern facts for kids
Moaning Caverns is a cool cave found in Calaveras County, California. It's located near Vallecito, California, right in the middle of California's famous Gold Country. This amazing cave formed in a type of rock called marble.
Miners looking for gold first found the cave in modern times in 1851. But people from long ago knew about it too! The cave got its name because a "moaning" sound used to echo from its entrance. This sound would draw people closer to see what it was. However, when the entrance was made bigger for visitors, the special sound stopped.
The part of the cave you can visit is a huge vertical shaft, like a giant hole, that is 165 feet (about 50 meters) deep. To get down, you use a mix of stairs and a unique spiral staircase. This staircase is about 100 feet (30 meters) tall and was built a long time ago in the early 1900s. You can take walking tours or even go spelunking here. If you explore all the hidden parts, the cave goes down to a total depth of 410 feet (124 meters)!
Ancient Discoveries
Moaning Caverns is also an important place for archaeology. This means scientists have found very old human remains here. Some of these remains are thought to be among the oldest ever found in America!
An archaeologist named Phil C. Orr studied these finds. He believed some human traces were about 12,000 years old. They were covered by a thick layer of rock deposits from the cave. Many other human bones have been found in the cave too, some from more recent times.
The cave has been a resting place for ancient people. It seems some might have fallen into its opening long, long ago.
The Main Chamber
Moaning Caverns holds the record for the largest single cave chamber in California. This giant room is over 180 feet (55 meters) tall before it narrows into smaller tunnels. Imagine this: the open space inside the chamber is so tall that it could fit the entire Statue of Liberty (without its base)!
There was only one natural way into this huge chamber. It was a 30-foot (9-meter) vertical chimney that dropped right into the middle of the room. Since this made it hard for visitors to enter, people used dynamite in the mid-1800s. They expanded a natural crack in the ground to make it wide enough for stairs.
A narrow wooden staircase takes you down 65 feet (20 meters) underground to a flat platform. From there, a ten-story spiral staircase leads you even further down. It takes you to a second platform at the very bottom of the main chamber.
Exploring the Cavern
The huge chamber of Moaning Caverns attracts many visitors each year. People come to see the amazing beauty of the cave. Right now, there are two main ways to enter the main chamber.
The most common way is the Spiral Tour. This tour takes you down all the stairs to the floor of the chamber. You'll be 165 feet (50 meters) below the visitor center! This informative trip usually lasts about 45 minutes.
Another exciting way to enter is by rappelling. In the mid-1980s, the natural entrance was turned into a rappelling route. Guests can now rappel all the way down to the floor of the chamber!
Expedition Tour
The main chamber only covers about one-third of the cave's total depth. Beyond that, the cave continues down through narrower tunnels. The cave reaches a total depth of 410 feet (124 meters)!
The Expedition Tour explores some of these deeper passageways. While no one goes all the way to the very bottom anymore, the Expedition Tour is still a big adventure. It requires crawling on your hands and knees for several hours! This crawling tour goes about 70 feet (21 meters) below the main chamber floor. You'll go through several tight spots with fun names like the Meat Grinder, Pancake Squeeze, and Birth Canal. Finally, you climb up and out of a 30-foot (9-meter) chimney called Santa's Worst Nightmare!
