Join us for a trip back in time that is available from May through October

Duration

12 Hours

About

Itinerary

7:00 Pickup from your San Francisco hotel 10:00 Angel Camp Museum/Carriage House 11:00 Calaveras Big Trees State Park. 1:00 Lunch and free time to shop and relax in the gold town of Murphys. 2:30 Mercer Caverns 3:30 Return to San Francisco with drop-offs at your accommodations.

Our small-group tour showcases the Bay Area’s surrounding (and stunning) geology and gold rush history on this day trip to Calaveras Big Trees State Park and Mercer Caverns.

We’ll visit the 3-acre Angel Camp Museum, a perfect place to start our day learning about the area’s mining history. At the museum, you can experience one of the most comprehensive collections of artifacts from the California gold rush era in the entire state. Bonus: You can even try panning for gold on the property.

Afterward, we’ll head over to Calaveras Big Trees State Park for a leisurely 1.5-mile walk through a grove of giant sequoia trees. Here, you can learn the entertaining history about the Discovery Tree, and how the park became the longest continually running attraction in California.

Next is a 1.5-hour stop in Murphys, an old miner’s town that’s filled with art, boutiques, and some fun surprising facts. You have many options for lunch spots, including the historic Murphys Hotel. This hotel is where Mark Twain, J.P. Morgan, and Ulysses S. Grant, among other famous folks, stayed. This is your free time to roam, eat, and shop on your own.

Our last stop of the day is Mercer Caverns, where you descend into another world, one that sparkles with stalactites, stalagmites, and more. For those who can’t physically make the journey down the stairs and into the caves, don’t worry: We’ve set up wine tasting for you in Murphys to enjoy. We’ll head back to San Francisco in the late afternoon.