California Cavern has the mother lode’s most extensive system of natural underground caverns. Regular tours take 60 to 80 minutes, or get a group together and reserve ahead for a three- to five-hour ‘Middle Earth Expedition’ ($130), which includes some serious spelunking (no children under age 16 allowed). The Trail of Lakes walking tour, available only during the wet season in winter and spring, is magical.
California Cavern State Historic Landmark
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Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park
16.32 MILES
Two miles southwest of Volcano, this sacred area for the local Miwok comprises a museum in a traditional wooden roundhouse, a village site, a limestone…
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Calaveras Big Trees State Park
13.34 MILES
Home to giant sequoia trees that reach as high as 250ft with trunk diameters of over 25ft, these leftovers from the Mesozoic era are thought to weigh…
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Railtown 1897 State Historic Park
18.72 MILES
Five blocks east of Jamestown’s Main St, this 26-acre collection of trains and railroad equipment is the photogenic sister to Sacramento's rail museum. It…
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18.22 MILES
You can't miss the ominous steel headframe of the mine from the road, rising to 125ft. Its pulleys lifted ore and miners from the bowels of the earth…
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17.16 MILES
In the former 1857 Tuolumne County Jail, you'll find this great little museum with a fortune’s worth of gold on display in the form of nuggets and gold…
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13.63 MILES
The so-called ‘Gem of the Southern Mines’ is like a miniature Gold Rush Disneyland, but with more authenticity and heart. Four blocks of town have been…
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20.14 MILES
In its prime, Sutter Creek was Gold Country’s main supply center for all things forged. Three foundries operating in 1873 made pans and rock crushers, but…
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20.27 MILES
This building goes back in time to when the general store was the center of the town’s social and economic life, represented by the chairs that circle the…
Nearby attractions
5.68 MILES
The name is a good hint that this place approaches history with a humorous touch. Housed in an 1856 building, it has an inscrutable tintype of the outlaw…
5.7 MILES
Don't miss the Rhône red blend at Twisted Oak's tasting room in downtown Murphys.
5.72 MILES
In downtown Murphys, start wine tasting at Tanner, whose family was the first to plant grapes and pay an alcohol tax in Calaveras County during the 1860s.
5.79 MILES
This family run winery pours the juicy red varietals that made them famous in their lively tasting lounge. At times, the place feels like the community…
6.7 MILES
The unusually family-friendly atmosphere makes the wine feel secondary at Ironstone. There’s a natural spring waterfall, a mechanical pipe organ, frequent…
12.29 MILES
The somewhat undiscovered settlement of Mokelumne Hill is 7 miles south of Jackson just off Hwy 49. Settled by French trappers in the early 1840s, it’s a…
7. Calaveras Big Trees State Park
13.34 MILES
Home to giant sequoia trees that reach as high as 250ft with trunk diameters of over 25ft, these leftovers from the Mesozoic era are thought to weigh…
8. Columbia State Historic Park
13.63 MILES
The so-called ‘Gem of the Southern Mines’ is like a miniature Gold Rush Disneyland, but with more authenticity and heart. Four blocks of town have been…