Lake Shasta Caverns, Limestone cave system near Lake Shasta, California, US

Lake Shasta Caverns is a limestone cave system near the McCloud arm of Shasta Lake in California. Its eight known rooms hold stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, columns and flowstone; the Discovery Room contains every type of limestone formation found in the caves. A tunnel blasted in 1964 leads into the chambers.

James Richardson first explored the caves in 1878, leaving marks from carbide of his miner's lamp on the limestone walls. The construction of a new entrance tunnel in 1964 led to the discovery of an additional chamber containing mineral formations.

The caves were known as Chalk Cave and Baird Cave, the latter after Spencer Fullerton Baird. Grace M. Tucker, an attorney from Chehalis, Washington, obtained sole ownership in 1955 and formed Lake Shasta Properties, Inc. with Roy Thompson and his two brothers in 1959. Visitors enter by catamaran across Shasta Lake and then a bus up the mountain grade.

To visit the caverns, you first take a catamaran boat ride across Lake Shasta and then board a bus that carries you up the mountain to reach the cave entrance. This combined approach allows visitors to experience both the water route and the surrounding landscape from different vantage points.

While exploring, visitors can spot the carbide marks left by James Richardson over 100 years ago on the cave walls. These historical traces provide a direct connection to the cave's early explorers.