Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Please see the the below blog entry for cavern information and times. Boyden Cavern is located 77 miles East of Fresno CA on Highway 180. There is plenty of parking and Forest Service bathrooms. Located in our parking lot is a small visitor center and gift shop, this is where you will purchase your tickets, have your questions answered and enjoy the river until your tour departs. The cavern tour departs right in front of the visitor center. Again see below for additional cavern information. Have a great trip into Boyden Cavern and Kings Canyon.
We will not be accepting any group reservations for Boyden over the holiday weekend.

Hello to all our customers, Boyden Cavern is open now, starting Memorial weekend we will open our gift shop at 09:30 am and the first tour will depart at 10:00 am. Tours will depart every hour and the hour for rest of the day, last tour of the day will leave at 5:00 pm. Ticket prices are $14.50 for 13 years and up and $8.50 for 12 and under. We also offer various discounts, especially Military discounts, so make sure to ask for your discount before purchasing tickets. Tour length is 45 - 50 minutes long, traveling at 800 feet into and then back out of the cavern.

We have picnic tables located right at the trail head to Boyden Cavern, there is a small Welcome center and gift-shop with some pretty cool fossils and minerals from around the world. The gift-shop has cold drinks including a couple of micro-beers and great tasting snacks (locally produced). Arrive any time, the shop may have it's windows closed during it's tours, however when the guide returns the shop will open and everyone can enjoy the view of the Kings River and the amazing view of the Marble mountains above Boyden Cavern. These are same mountains that 180 million years ago were under a shallow sea and grew into massive corral reefs.

Boyden Cavern- walk a scenic 5 - 10 minute trail up to the cavern entrance, there are amazing flowers and plants right along the trail, including the Giant Maple with it's broad leaf. California Bay tree with it's aromatic Bay leaf as well as many small flowering plants, make sure to ask for the manager Elaine for more details of all the plants along the trail. The hike is strenuous at one point, the trail is level for 3 - 5 minutes of walking, then the trail steepens a fair amount (stop often and catch your breath), the steep section takes 2-4 minutes to walk up, there is a switch back then the trail is level for 2-3 more minutes with the last section which is steep for 50 more feet. There are benches along the way and at the cavern entrance. Once inside the cavern the trail is mostly level with occasional steps. As the tour progresses through the cavern, folks pass stalactites and stalagmites which resembles cities, drapes, tacos, camels and elephants....Oh and bacon. The trail toward the back of the cavern descends into the stream bed and is no longer a easy walk with hand railing. Be prepared for rough surface with stream stones and slippery footing. We strongly suggest shoes that are closed toe with good friction bottoms. Your final destination is the Christmas tree room with a beautiful Christmas tree formation that is estimated to be around 50,000 years in the forming.

Please keep an eye on our Blog site for the most up to date information on our cavern tours and times. Also as the CANYONING season gets here we will be updating our Blog with which trips are available and specific details on the trips.

For more information or to make reservation please call us at 888-965-8243. We are a very small office and do not have full time office staff, so if we do not pick up, please, please leave us a message so that we can get back to you and answer your questions.

See all of you in the canyon..........

Here is a Google Map of the Boyden location