Black Chasm Cavern

“Okay, where’s the bats?”

The little girl and I were holding up the tour group at the Black Chasm Cavern in Volcano, staring at the ceiling of the cavern and waiting for bats to appear.  As a gardener, I was imagining myself scraping bat guano from the stalagmites to fertilize my garden.  Forget the chicken and rabbit manure.  Bat guano is the Cadillac of fertilizers, and I wanted some.

The tour guide, a young woman in her 20s, looked at me and smirked.  “I was only kidding.  Bats don’t live here.  This is a hole in the ground, and bats would have a hard time maneuvering in and out of here.”

The entrance to the Black Chasm probably looks like the same hole in the ground when it was first discovered by the Miwoks and used as a place for ceremonies, burials and punishment.  At the time of the California Gold Rush, miners sought the cavern for gold, but found nothing.  Although the Gold Rush took place over a century ago, remnants of their cavern abuse remain.  When they couldn’t make money on tours, they were tempted to blow it up.  In the first of three rooms, visitors can see where the miners snapped off several stalactites.

To keep the delicate calcite formations intact, visitors are told to look, but don’t touch.  Below the stairs and ramps, the cavern is also the semi-permanent resting place for cameras, sunglasses, and cell phones.  They are retrieved only when the manager decides to rappel down 100 feet for the odd collection.

In a state prone to earthquakes, the guide said the cavern would be a safe haven during an earthquake. 

For a few seconds, the artificial lighting was shut off, and we were told to put our hands in front of our faces.  I’ve never been in this type of darkness, and it was a creepy feeling.  There is life in the cavern, but the lack of sunshine makes living things blind.  Rare shrimp and pseudo scorpions live in the cave.  The environment doesn’t allow them to have color.

I haven’t toured a cave or cavern in years, but I do remember the beauty of formations like angel wings.  The last cavern I toured was in the middle of the Arizona desert with a tacky concrete dinosaur to greet tourists.  At that time, I felt like I had stepped into the 1950s.  The elevator was that old, and once I got in, I began to pray.

This tour of Black Chasm was a treat and a great escape from suburbia.  With three rooms on display for the public and thirteen rooms open only to staff, there were plenty of formations to see.  Photography is allowed in the cavern, but cameras with flash units are prohibited.  There were so many things to photograph, but with artificial lighting, it’s hit and miss with a basic point and shoot camera like mine.

The most interesting room of the three is the last room, known as The Dragon Room.  Here, you will find Moo Shu, the cavern mascot shaped like a dragon.  This particular California cavern also has formations only found in caves and caverns in Arizona and Montana.

A dirt trail leads to the visitors’ center and gift shop.  There’s a gold panning set-up outside the center for those who want to try panning for “gold”.  The Black Chasm Cavern became a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service in 1976 and is open all year.