California Caving
In the historic town of Angels Camp, at the heart of California's gold country, some of the treasures discovered in these hills are a different kind of gem. The Early Show’s Best Of America adventures now take us to the bowels of the Earth.
At the beginning of a breathtaking cave adventure, a sixteen story vertical descent. It's the beginning of a breathtaking cave adventure.
Cave owner, Stephen Fairchild says, ”It's not Disneyland, it's very, very real. And you've got to be in the adventure mode to really do this because there's a risk involved.”
Twelve year old, Gabriel, bravely decides to take the plunge. “I'm thinking, don't look down.”
With narrow shafts and big drops, the rappel takes you into a cavern so huge, it could hold the statue of liberty.
“I felt a queasy when I looked up, that made me even more queasy, so I just looked at the rock formations that the guide was showing me until I settled down.”
Stephen Fairchild- 11535 we get a lot of people, they send us letters, saying that it changed their lives because after this everything else was easy in life.
Aaron Ginn, who frequents the cave says, “Even if you've done it hundreds of times, it's still an adrenalin rush…and it really blows your mind because you're in this totally alien world one hundred and eighty feet above the floor of the cave.”
The caves were discovered by forty-niners, while they were looking for gold. Inside the remains of more than one hundred prehistoric people have been unearthed. Among them a human skull from someone that fell in around 8000 years ago. There could be bones as old as 13000 years old in the cavern.
There are seven underground lakes at "California Cavern," located about a half hour's drive from "Moaning Cavern." The water has carved out the caverns’ hallow.
The water is clear like glass.
Here, hardy explorers may also challenge themselves on expeditions that are not for the timid.
Huddleston says “We do belly crawls, hands and knees crawls, we raft an underground lake. Get muddy, wade through water, climb ladders and go end to end through this mountain.
During the gold rush, these chambers were used for town meetings and weddings. But this cave also has a dark history.
“Well if you go back far enough, the Indians of the area knew of the cave, although they never actually volunteered to come down here. It was often used as a dungeon for their enemy tribe members or criminals,” Huddleston says.
These days, the cave is haunted only by slithering, sliding, dare devils in helmets and coveralls.
One cave visitor said, “I got all muddy from head to toe and I'm still alive! I made it out of there. I didn't die! It was awesome! Just don't go in there if you're claustrophobic. It's a little scary. But it was great, I love it.”