Overview

The hike into Mitchell Caverns is a great 2-hour ranger-guided nature walk. The trail runs out an easy 0.5 miles from the Mitchell Caverns Visitor Center to the entrance to the caves. The tour then goes underground for about an hour to see and learn about the interesting, unusual, and well-preserved cave formations.

The park is open all year, but only on Fridays, Saturday, and Sundays (plus holiday Mondays) The park is closed weekly Monday through Thursday, plus Christmas and New Year's Day. Tour fees are based on age, ranging up to $10 per adult. Tours are twice per day and limited to 15 people. For information on reservations, visit the Providence Mountains State Park website. For more information, download the Providence Mountains brochure (1.2mb PDF).

Link to Trail Map or Cave Map.

Watch Out

Other than the standard warnings about hiking in the desert, ...this is a pretty safe hike, but be careful on the trail and watch your head in the cave. There are stairs and tight places inside the cave.

While hiking, please respect the land and the other people out there, and try to Leave No Trace of your passage. Also, this is a short, guided hike, so just bring what you need of the 10 Essentials.

Getting to the Trailhead

This hike is located in Mojave National Preserve, about 2.5 hours south of Las Vegas.

From town, drive out to Mojave National Preserve and then to the Hole-in-the-Wall Visitor Center (Table 1, Site 0502), which is about 85 miles from Las Vegas. From the Visitor Center turnoff on Black Canyon Road, drive south for 9.7 miles to a T-intersection with the paved Essex Road (Site 0845). Turn right and drive west for 6.1 miles to the end of the road (Site 0503). Park in the large parking area by the campground or the small parking area by the Mitchell Caverns Visitor Center. Park here; this is the trailhead.

The Hike

Join the tour on the outside patio of the Mitchell Caverns Visitor Center (Table 2, Waypoint 1) by the flagpole. The ranger will give an orientation talk explaining the geologic history of the area and how the caves formed, explaining that there are actually two limestone caves (El Pakiva and Tecopa) that are now linked with a man-made tunnel. They talk about human history and use of the cave, including use by prehistoric, historic, and modern peoples. Rangers also talk about the wildlife (including unique species) in and around the caves. After the talk, the ranger leads the group south on the well-maintained trail across the hillside towards the caverns.

The vegetation along the trail is relatively lush, higher-elevation Mojave Desert Scrub with creosote bush, Mojave Yucca, cactus, and other species. The elevation is high enough that Juniper trees survive in the canyon at the mouth of the cave.

The rocks along the trail are limestone and dolomite, but higher up, the rocks are volcanic. The limestone generally was laid down as flat layers of deep-ocean sediment, but a volcano pushed up through the layers, melting and tilting the limestone. The dark-colored peaks above the trail are the remains of the volcano. There are good views of the contact between these two types of rock along the trail. The rangers will fill in details of the geologic history.

Just before getting to the cave, the trail rounds a little ridge where there is a great view of "the eyes of the mountain," the double opening of El Pakiva cave. Just a few steps beyond the curve, visitors can see the remains of an old cave on the uphill side of the trail. This cave might have been part of El Pakiva cave, but here the roof collapsed, and the walls completely eroded away. All that remain are formations that made up the floor, including the concentric rings of several columns and some flowstone.

With the orientation talk and several brief stops along the way, it took our group about 1 hour to get from the ranger station to the cave entrance (Wpt. 2). Inside the cave, the trail is paved and easy, but there are some stairs and narrow parts, so watch your head; the trail is not fully accessible.

The cave formations are spectacular with many stalactites, stalagmites, and columns as would be expected, but there are also many "erratic" formations including cave shields, straws, popcorn, and other formations that grow against gravity. The rangers use lighting to spotlight and highlight various formations.

Interesting animals live inside this cave and nowhere else on earth. Unique animals include the cave stinkbug and cave pseudoscorpion. Many other creatures use the cave too, including Townsend's Big-eared Bats (a species of concern). These cute little bats have ears that are about 1 inch long (on a 4-inch body), and they can roll up their ears to keep them warm while sleeping.