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    Crystal Cave

    4.3 (81 reviews)
    Closed 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

    Crystal Cave Photos

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    Second inside room
    Karen J.

    Stunning! I was waiting for years for the cave to reopen and finally able to take a tour. Our tour guide, Lindy, was immensely knowledgeable and was firing off answers left and right for our group. Two beautiful waterfalls right before the cave entrance. Short hike down, up is a different story! It was hot when we went so we made sure to splash some water on ourselves right before we walked back up the trail.

    Jessica M.

    We just went on August 9th and it was spectacular! The hike to the cave is easy. The hike coming back is uphill. However, it wasn't too bad. My family and I enjoyed Isaac as our tour guide at the cave. His jokes were funny! Such an incredible experience. Be sure to book your tickets in advance. We bought ours about a month and a half ago.

    Main entrance of Crystal Cave.

    This place is still amazing 30 year later as I went as a kid. You can see the fire destruction but they did a good job restoring the road.

    Alex L.

    I've been to a couple caves in California and this is one of the coolest (also very cool inside). It's a popular attraction, especially on weekends and quite the drive and hike for those who aren't accustomed to either, but the cave itself is a splendid natural wonder that only those who are somehow unimpressed by the marvels of nature should avoid. We came up with some locals who had been coming for years and only found out via signage halfway down the road to the caves that tickets are required to be purchased ahead of time. Upon arrival, we learned that because of COVID those tickets are usually purchased weeks in advance. Thinking we were out of luck, we hopped on the waiting list for the next tour and were fortunate there were just enough no-shows to get us in. I would not recommend this method to other as you will probably be disappointed and, again, the road to just to drive to the caves is very long and very curvy. The hike down to the caves is also longer than your average trek to a tourist attraction. But here's where it gets real fun. Our tour guide, Hunter, was extremely entertaining and knowledgeable and most importantly patient with my young son's many questions. The caves were fascinating, from the many rock formations that were tens of thousands of years old to the total darkness we experienced when we were at our deepest. They made it very clear that you cannot touch anything as it will disrupt the natural processes that form this wonder and they have clearly marked pathways - some with railings - to help guide you through. I'd recommend a sweatshirt for those who get really cold but I found it super refreshing considering it was in the 80s outside. The hike back was the most strenuous part. All in all, we thought the whole place was well worth it and fascinating. Don't expect some comic book version of a cave chock full of crystals, but do expect a firsthand look at a natural wonder!

    Vincent P.

    An extremely popular attraction at Sequoia National Park, visits are only available by tours to preserve the cave. Book your reservation on their website and make sure you book a couple months in advance, the popular tours got filled up pretty fast. Each time slot has a capacity of 50 people, we did the Family Tour and it was $18 per person. There is a parking lot once you reach the site of the Crystal Caves. Upon arrival, confirm with the booth about your reservation and they will notify you where to go. The tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable, he explained to us the history of the cave and showed the many rock formations that have developed over time. He was enthusiastic, friendly, and informative. He had a great time answer questions from everyone, even the kids! Our group was really good and everyone was polite and respectful of the cave, which made for a great tour experience. The cave itself is beautiful and has so much history. We learned a lot about how it was discovered, excavation errors, and how they've learned along the way to improve tours without disrupting the natural formations. Great tour and definitely a #1 attraction to visit in Sequoia.

    Yari V.

    Super cool!!! So glad my family and I got to experience this awesome tour. Our tour person was great and explain everything very well. Our family had a great time.

    The cave entrance/exit
    Lorena S.

    I really wanted to give this 5 stars...it deserves 5 stars...it really was a beautiful experience a few exceptions. 1). Reservations are quick and easy on the website. You take your confirmation to the shop and they give you your physical tickets. We arrived early and put our name on the list for an earlier tour. They do tours every 30 minutes so you don't really wait that long. We were able to get a tour an hour and a half early. One of the rangers accidentally bypassed us but luckily I was sitting close and when I noticed they let a family that was after me on the list go ahead I told him we had been waiting and he said preference comes to those who didn't prebuy their tickets. Which makes no sense anyway we were allowed to go. 2) The tour is a really an amazing experience. The caves are gorgeous and just really breathtaking. Our tour guide was really lovely and knowledgeable. The scenery walking down to caves is just breath taking the greenery and waterfalls. You feel the instant temperature drop which hit was appreciated on the hot day. You start at the top and have to walk about a half mile down to get to the caves. Really easy, coming up was another story. Lol. 3) The thing that killed it for me were some of the families. It blows my mind how you can completely ignore rules while on a tour. They specifically ask you to head straight down to the cave and take pictures afterwards since the tours are on a tight timeframe. We were waiting for people to make it down because they were busy taking pics. Then we had a family that had two crying small children, I'd say neither was older then 5. I get wanting to experience things with your kids but if your child is screaming then maybe this isn't the thing for them. They were able to calm them down for a bit but throughout the tour would scream and cry. We are told straight out before the tour DO NOT TOUCH THE WALLS OF THE CAVES as our oils mess up the environment. These children were all over the place touching everything. Screening when their parents tried to stop them and at one point one kid smacked his dad in the balls and he hurtled over. I'm serious. Like I couldn't believe it happened. The tour guide was such a trooper trying to talk louder so the rest of us could hear. So why is this impacting their rating you ask. Well because they have very limited 13 and over tours and all of them are after 12pm. We were trying to see as much as possible and since this was the only timed event on our list we wanted to do it right away. It would be so nice if they could add some adult tours early. Still worth it and a definite must. Wear good shoes and bring a sweater. It was a super hot day but it gets cold in the caves.

    Adriana S.

    The walk down to this cave was about 15min and pretty fast since you are going down, they do give you a safety talk before you go down to it which is important to hear since they advise regarding rattle snakes and poison oak you night see on your way down. You also pass a water fall which is next to the cave entrance. The tours guy explains all about the cave and you get about 1.5hr of tour. Now the way up is the hard one, since its going up stairs and its like going up hills. Really hard unless you are used to hiking then it will be easy for you. But worth it I think.

    Jovete E.

    I booked this tour a month in advance given that we were going 4th of July weekend. Unfortunately, the traffic from our hotel in Fowler took us almost 3 hours to get to the cave. There was traffic due to the holiday weekend and there was a RV that broke down. Of course we missed our tour which was booked for 2:00pm, we got there at about 2:30, explained our situation and they were so nice enough to let us join the 3:00 tour (thanks to Keith). The tour was 50 mins long. When it began, we had to hike 20 mins from the entrance down to the cave, which was no biggie at all other than trying to avoid all of the poison ivy. When we got to the cave, we could feel the cold air, it was unbelievable how beautiful it was. It was bigger than we thought and unreal. We loved the tour so much! Downside, the hike back up! It was worth it but it was definitely tough with 2 kids. Tips: make sure you eat before you head over, the road from the Crystal Cave sign to the actual site is very bumpy and windy (takes about 30 mins). Make sure you bring water, a light sweater, a good camera that can take pictures without a flash, allow yourselves extra time to arrive early and mosquito repellant.

    Cave dwellings
    Yonnie C.

    My husband and I arrived at Foothill Visitor Center at 8am (right when the visitor center opened) and got in line to buy Crystal Cave Tour tickets. We bought the 10:30 am tour, since that was the only tour which was "Adults Only". I was afraid they were going to run out of tickets on Saturday, especially since it was mid-July and during the busy summer months....but fortunately, there were plenty of spots available. :) They have tours every 30 minutes starting at 1030am and each tour can handle max of 50 people. After buying our tickets for $15 per person, we were told that it'd take 1 hour to drive to the cave parking lot. It actually took us about 45 min instead...but 1 hour is on the safe side. Once you get to the parking lot, there is an attendant that tells you to start gathering around gift shop kiosk. You'll be asked to get your shoes sanitized before heading down a 30-min trail downhill to the cave entrance. Once you get to the entrance, there is a tour guide there -- who will basically take you into the cave and give you an informative 45 minute tour of this remarkable marble cave. We saw many stalactites and stalagmites! :) There was running water inside the cave and great lighting all around to show the intricate structures. It's just a shame that there was damage previously done to this cave when it had first opened up to the public... Our female tour guide was very calm, professional and informative - we enjoyed listening to her talk about all the formations and the stories behind the cave's history and past, present and future. :) The temps inside were about 50-55 degrees, so definitely glad we wore that jacket/sweatshirt. Be sure to bring a bottle of water for the trek back up the hill AND a flashlight if you want. They don't provide you with flashlights on this tour, so you have to bring your own if you want to see more of the cave's structures. The "adults only" tour was rather small in size, about 16 of us total...so they took us to an "extra room" inside the cave where we could hang out for a longer period of time than the other tours which have 40-50 people. :) Lucky us!

    Sharon K.

    Best cave experience! Beware that the cave tour is a total of 45 minutes but the round trip takes about 2 hours including time walking down to the cave and the hike back up! It is fun for both kids and adults! Buy your tickets online to avoided the hassle of buying them in person. I went to the cave on 7/17/18 and it was quite hot outside (around 90) and the cave inside was about 50F. It was like being in the refrigerator section of Costco for 45 minutes. The waterfall is beautiful! Great spot for photos. Tips: + if you are physically out of shape, this hike may be a challenge for you. It is .5 mile hike one way. + there are couple of bear boxes in front by the entrance of the trail to place your food. + if you have visit any other caves in the last ten years, they request you to not wear anything from those caves into this one. Including eyewear. + you may need to bring a jacket if you get cold easy, the cave does get cold. + you cannot bring anything in the cave! (No bags, no water, etc) I was not allowed to bring my baby carrier, so my 8 month old had to be held the whole time. However, you can bring the items, and leave them at the entrance of the cave. (They have another person checking visitors before you enter, to ensure you do not bring items with you) + bring water!! You will get thirsty! + there are no bathrooms down where the caves are. Highly advised to use the bathrooms located in the parking lot.

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    13 years ago

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    Review Highlights - Crystal Cave

    An extremely popular attraction at Sequoia National Park, visits are only available by tours to preserve the cave.

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    Sequoia And Kings Canyon National Parks - Giant Tree Museum - also has restrooms and exhibits.

    Sequoia And Kings Canyon National Parks

    4.6(554 reviews)
    6.7 mi

    Before I visited the place, I had heard of the Sequoia National Park several times throughout my…read morelife and all these mentions amounted to me believing one large fact: that the place was a sprawling, maybe never ending, sea of deep forest pageantry. And do not get me wrong, the place is in fact miles and miles and cubic centimeters of forest as commonly imagined. It had tall trees, meadows, dirt paths with twigs and shrubs all around and views so expansive the word majestic comes to mind. But after walking the same scenery for hours the beauty in green became a dull brown motif. Wood sprites might have heard my words or seen my unimpressed and tired face because Sequoia stopped being a forest of trees and green and it started to become a land of different weathers that not only gave me new challenges and vistas to experience but it also gave me beauty I had to endure. As I saw my friend Denise walk into a spherical cloud of fog, I realized that this place oscillated between being both proof of nature's magic and her jagged disposition. The fog seemed like a portal to Avalon where Pulk waited with prose, but it was also a reminder of all the sailors and drivers lost when the thickness of mist impairs good visual choices. The fog sphere was seen after Denise and I walked for hours, uphill, to see Morro Rock. As we walked up, we first passed mist that seem to have broken from a cloud. This was a sensational moment. She and. had both skydove but this is the first time where we felt like we walked through cloud veils, insetad of zooming past them with the hope of gravitiy abandon. I do not think I will ever re-feel the sensation of walking on cloud air, literally. She and I got separated. I thought I could follow the signs. But the signs were tricksters. As I walked toward the museum I saw a sign that said this way to Crescent Meadow. I did not see a sign that said this way to Crescent Meadow (pointing to the left) and this way to the Museum (pointing ahead). I assumed that because I no longer saw signs assuring me that I was on the right path, I must have gotten into the wrong one. I share this as the biggest piece of advice that I wish to give: Stay the trail, despite not having signs of reassurance that you are still in the right direction. The signs, and my broken internal compass, are both valid reasons as to why I eventually left the designated path and got lost. Like legit lost in the wilderness of Sequoia. I was not in an episode of Naked and Afraid but I did feel scared, disoriented and like I would not see my life tomorrow. Before I got to this point of panic, I arrived at a bluff of a white mountain that saw me greet miles of green pines that streched as far as the eye could see. It was a Rocky-like-triumph moment, except that I had to drag myself, as I sat, down this white mountain, but that was my survival experience that I am proud to have endured. After sliding down, I searched for paths that seemed walked on before, and found several that I had to follow and eliminae. I climbed over trees by hugging their fallen bark, and almost lost my shoe. I continued and eventually found a path and others humans. I was save for now. I got lost again but this time my survival was quicker as I walked down to the road. Rangers told me that I was not able to ride in the truck after I explained I was scared and unable to find my way twice. One of them told me to follow the road and eventually I would hit the museum. I did just that and I found my friend Denise waiting in the museum. After hugs laced with relief, she and I continued our trek to Sherman. But we got hit by rain. I had a hoodie. She did not. Her face looked beautiful covered with the remains of heavy rain. We walked and the sleet followed. We were wet, damp, and we were scared. What could be next? We could not find our path to Sherman. We waved people down, hoping that someone would take us to our car near Sherman. Eventually, we met Chester and he let us both into his car. The snow now was falling hard. She and I did not expect snow. We did not expect white to fall from the sky not when we were promised green on top of green all around. We got to the car and she drove in Snow for the first time. It was both scary and and beuatiful. I imagined that I was in snow caped mountains seeing frozen giants walk around. The night was gray. The monsters were there. She worried about us not having snow tired but still we drove down the snow covered pines, in a pilgramage to safety. Before we left the park we saw mist contrasted in the dark of the knight. It was a spooky evening, yes, the one that frames scary stories. But for us the night mist was further proof that Sequoia offers weather that is cyclical within a day. With space from the experience, I am only happythat I visited the place and was ensconsed by its many seasons. And, grateful that I survived the beauty of it all.

    Sequoia national Park is quite the experience, but I want to warn you. There is a very long drive…read moreto get up to see the sequoia trees. I believe it was roughly 45 minutes to get up there to begin to see these trees and the road was very long and windy and at one point I was for sure we were going the wrong way even though there's only one way I was for sure. But after that 45 minute drive up, you begin to see these remarkably tall, beautiful sequoia trees as far as they I can see and each one of them more breathtaking than ever we went during winter so I definitely encourage you to check and make sure that you don't need to bring snow chains because to travel to a lot of the areas in winter and other seasons, you might just need snow chains to make it My family had a great time we spent just a few hours walking around and enjoying the beautiful view the fresh Mountain air and getting a chance to interact with other people traveling from all over the country who had come to visit as well. This is also something you must add to your bucket list because even though we only got to see 1/10 of this park, we already have it put back on our bucket list to go again because there's so much more to see here truly breathtaking views and just a relaxing experience all the way around.

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    Mountain Trekking Adventures

    5.0(3 reviews)
    11.1 mi

    Pani was our guide for our visit to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks in June of 2025. It was…read moreour first visit to the area, and we wanted a guide to help us experience the parks in the most fun and educational way, so we could get the most out of our time. Pani was incredibly communicative and was flexible with us when we decided to split our visit across two days instead of just one. Pani was easy to talk with, knowledgeable about the parks, and passionate about the history and ecology. We learned so much on our adventure, and Pani was always willing to take pics for us everywhere we went. Thank you Pani for making our vacation so special and memorable!

    An awesome family tour of Sequoia National Park enriched with an excellent tour guide, Pani of…read moremountain trekking adventures! We all learned so much about the history and geology of this vast Park. Having a knowledgeable tour guide really eliminates any stress of searching for features you want to see! Our party of 10 agreed we had the best park trip ever with Pani guiding us through the exceptional features of Sequoia national park. We are spoiled now and highly recommend mountain trekking adventures for anyone going to the Sequoia national Park or Kings Canyon national parks.

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    Mountain Trekking Adventures - Kings Canyon is over 8000ft deep in some spots, we will take you through it with special stops all along the way.

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    Kings Canyon National Park - Little chipmunk came up to us  07-04-2025

    Kings Canyon National Park

    4.6(106 reviews)
    3.6 mi

    What to do on the Fourth of July? Join the horde of other visitors at a National Park!…read more We started on our way early enough to be at the gate to Kings Canyon National Park by 8:38 AM. I highly suggest arriving as early as possible to avoid slow & stopped traffic on the road and a long wait time at the gate. We entered here and left from Sequoia National Park. As we drove out, we were struck by the sheer volume of cars waiting to enter the park. The last car waiting was about a mile away!! There is an entrance fee to pay for most people. U.S. Military personnel and individuals with the Access Lifetime Pass enter for free. We have a National Park Pass, so we were good to enter. The signs with prices are posted at the gate. TIP: Bring a major Credit Card or Mobile Payment because this is a cashless park. The road is windy, so take care while driving. I'd also like to recommend that slower vehicles use the pullouts so others can pass. We stopped in at the Kings Canyon Visitor Center & Grant Grove Village for a potty break and to check out souvenirs and information there. There's also a restaurant here if you need sustenance for your day. If you need Wi-Fi, you can connect here. Otherwise, reception is spotty at best out in the park! There are so many majestic Sequoia Trees to enjoy! This park is home to a famous tree named General Grant. We came to take in its grandeur! This is the third largest tree in the world by volume! By viewing this tree, I've now seen the world's widest-known Sequoia! Things to see while taking a leisurely stroll around General Grant Trail, which is about a 0.7-mile loop: *General Grant Tree - named after General Ulysses S. Grant & is a Living Shrine *Gamlin Cabin - built in 1872 by the Gamlin brothers, who lived there until 1878. This park was established as General Grant National Park in 1890. The cabin was turned into a store and later became the first Park Ranger's quarters. *Centennial Stump *Fallen Monarch - view the log which is the upper part of the tree is down slope from the Grant Tree. There are many trails and places to explore in this park! Enjoy the great outdoors!

    The roads towards the meadows closed during winter, so the best time to visit in spring to fall…read more The rangers are very hepful. I like the Kings Canyon Visitor Center, it has lot of things to offer, restaurant, gift shop, restrooms and USPS. General Grant Tree Trail was awesome, it's an easy walk to see the Fallen Monarch and the grant tree. A must visit place for nature lover.

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