Lake Shasta Caverns

The caves themselves are lovely, BUT after paying $28 per person, be aware that you will be rushed, rushed, rushed. Other than climbing stairs, our group was allowed less than five minutes in each of the “rooms”, because there was another group on our heels.

Some of our group who are older and a bit slower on the hundreds of stairs involved missed most of the guide’s spiel, because she did not wait for them. By the time they arrived, the guide was over half way through the information at that stop. She was very informative and knew the history well, but needed to be louder. I could hear the guide in the group behind us better than ours. Also, she was so comfortable with the script that she spoke too fast. Several of us couldn’t understand her well with the combination of low volume and speed.

Over all, what we got for our group’s 200+ dollars left us unsatisfied, annoyed and feeling totally ripped off. There are better caves that are far less expensive and far better presented!

The good...
The caves are fascinating and beautiful.

There are fifty bald Eagles nesting on lake Shasta and on the short boat ride we got to observe one take flight. Only the second time in I saw a bald eagle in the wild.

There is a pan mining set up by the visitor store and for ten bucks each the kids got to mine using pans. They are super interested in geology so this was great.

The bad...

After taking a short boat ride you ascend a slope and get on a bus that will take you to the cave entrance. The brochure leaves out how many switch backs and slopes you have to climb, not including the stairs within the cave. There are a lot of slopes and steps.

The Ugly,
Our tour guide was not masked! Although the guest were masked the tour guide was not, not on the boat, not in the bus, not in the cave. Covid has killed a lot of people and the lack of reverence was appalling.

This place is fun/interesting to see. Get lots of pictures!!

Summer
Memorial Day thru Labor Day
Every half hour from 9 AM - 4 PM

April, May and September
Every hour from 9 AM - 3 PM

October - March
10 AM, 12 PM, 2 PM

Beautiful and nice on a hot day. The caverns are nice and cool. You have to go up some steep steps, so beware! This being said, I'm pretty out of shape and did not have difficulty with it. The guided tour is great with lots of neat information. The only downside was that though they claimed to have a dog sitter, we left our dog with them while on the tour and when we returned, there was NO ONE watching the dog even though he was NOT LOCKED up! This made me upset because anybody could have come up and taken my dog. I looked for someone and waited for 5 minutes before just heading into the gift shop to retrieve my leash (they link the dogs to their own anchored leash). If you don't have a dog, I highly recommend this place! :) I would give this place a 5, except for the fact that they told us they would watch my dog and they didn't at all! So, I have to give it a 3.

This was such a disappointing experience. We drove 6 hours to get here. Stay in a hotel for a couple of nights so we didn't have to rush. Only to arrive there and be told, sorry there's a tree down. No tours today. So, you couldn't call us? Email? Anything???

I get things happen. But the way they handled it was so unprofessional. Their attitude was like oh well, no tours, too bad for you. We asked if we could come back later. They said it would be closed all day. Hmmm. Must have been some massive tree then huh.

They basically just shooed us out. No sorry you had to drive all this way for nothing. No hey, here's a discount for next time. Just yep sorry you have to leave now bye.

They said they would refund us. We had paid online. He said I would get an email that day letting us know they processed the refund. That was 3 days ago and I still haven't heard a thing.

This was such a disappointing experience. We drove 6 hours to get here. Stay in a hotel for a couple of nights so we didn't have to rush. Only to arrive there and be told, sorry there's a tree down. No tours today. So, you couldn't call us? Email? Anything???

I get things happen. But the way they handled it was so unprofessional. Their attitude was like oh well, no tours, too bad for you. We asked if we could come back later. They said it would be closed all day. Hmmm. Must have been some massive tree then huh.

They basically just shooed us out. No sorry you had to drive all this way for nothing. No hey, here's a discount for next time. Just yep sorry you have to leave now bye.

They said they would refund us. We had paid online. He said I would get an email that day letting us know they processed the refund. That was 3 days ago and I still haven't heard a thing.

This is a great activity to do if you are staying in or passing through the area. Its a bit expensive for the whole family, but worth it. It includes a boat ride across the lake and a bus ride up the hill to the cave. Tip: sit on the driver's side if you are afraid of heights. I wish I had my laser pointer with me to point out specific formations. There is plenty of room for RV parking and turn around. Do the right thing and tip your guide and bus driver.