Cave Country

Cave Adventures in Lake Shasta and Lava Beds

10.12.2017

Take your explorations to new heights … or, rather, new depths, by visiting some of California’s coolest cave country. Get all Indiana Jones at Lake Shasta Caverns National Landmark, where your adventure begins with a boat ride across Shasta Lake, and ends on a mountain with a guided trip through multiple chambers decorated in stalagmite and stalactite.

Just up the road, drive Cave Loop at Lava Beds National Monument, a volcanic landscape with over 700 caves! Here you can choose from easy walk-in caves like the Mushpot or more challenging options like Labyrinth Cave, where you’ll enter via ropes or ladders and navigate some tight spaces!

Only the brave will see the famous formations in Crystal Ice Cave. On this ranger-led tour explored only during winter, you’ll ascend a sheer 50-foot-long ice floor using a rope, then negotiate icy patches and rugged boulder-strewn floors, including crawling through a tight hole. Cave, Man!

How below can you go? Visit Redding and find out! Redding is the best basecamp for easy driving distances to both Lake Shasta Caverns National Landmark and Lava Beds National Monument.

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