Mercer Caverns

Mercer Caverns is a show cave located one mile north of Murphys in Calaveras County California.

[1] It is named after the gold prospector Walter J. Mercer who discovered the caves around 1885 and filed a claim.

[2] The caverns have a large number of speleothems, stalactites, and stalagmites.

It is formed in a marble unit known as the Calaveras Formation.

[3] The standard tour of the cave descends 160 feet, 208 steps down and 232 up in a traverse between the natural and an artificial entrance.