Pluto’s Cave is a 0.7 mile out and back trail located near Montague, California that offers the chance to see wildlife and is good for all skill levels. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, and nature trips.
Please note: Pets are not allowed inside the cave.
February 4, 2021January 13, 2021
January 10, 2021Such an easy and cool cave to get to!! Go to the left and the right when getting to the bottom. The cave is on both sides. Going to the right will get you to the part where you will need a headlamp- we chickened out.
December 13, 2020Super cool caves. We only had 1 headlamp between 2 people so didn’t make it too far past when it gets pitch black, but still really fun. Very eerie...
November 15, 2020Cave is roughly a mile long. Bring hard hat is planning to go all the way though. Requires scrambling
October 16, 2020Cool, be prepared to have a headlamp so you can safely scramble through. When you approach the entrance, keep right.
October 4, 2020September 27, 2020September 27, 2020It was an adventurous and wild one for us! One star taken off because the smell at some spots can be horrendous, and graffiti were everywhere. otherwise, it was a great trail that's worth exploring! You'll need to drive on an one-way unpaved road to get to the trail head. Any car should do though, just drive slow. The first part of the trail was just sand, just follow the foot path (someone tied pink ribbons along the trail, so it was easy for us to find ourway) and you'll find your way to the cave. Once you see the caves to the right of the trail, walk down to the one on the right. The bigger one to the left is a dead end and it smells horrendous in there. You'll need to walk down farther to get to the cave, which was in two parts. The first part of the cave was short and relatively bright, as the sun can still shine in. If you are adventurous and have very bright lights, walk down farther to the second part of the cave, which gets pitch black and you may encounter bats like we did. The path was very rocky and can be impossible to pass without very bright lights. Proceed with caution! Because the second part of the cave is very rocky and dark, it's probably not ideal for small kids. Good thing that we brought our 450 lumens head lights and a LED light with us. The headlight was very helpful for us to see farther ahead (as it is pitch black in there). We walked in farther to see the bats. We decided to return when two bats flew around us and seemingly tried to attack us. So just be aware. Overall, it was a very adventurous and unique trail.
September 26, 2020September 26, 2020August 27, 2020What a WILD trail! Once you find it it’s sooo cool. Bring lots of batteries and flashlights because it’s pitch black. Check it out for yourself in our latest video: https://youtu.be/54Sfe5o9jmY
August 26, 2020About the big dark cave at the end.... This was my first unpaved cave. Really bright headlamps made all the difference. I would have preferred spares since finding our way back safely in the dark would have been nearly impossible. Not to mention horrifying. About one-third dirt paths and the rest scrambling over rocks. Exercise some care. I don’t know what you do if you twist an ankle down there. It takes about 30 minutes to reach what appears to be the end. At that point there’s a small hole that leads to who-knows-where, something beyond our technical ability that I wouldn’t attempt without an experienced guide.
August 12, 2020Cooler than I thought!
August 11, 2020Amazing place! All the caverns are quite open and easy to access just be willing to do a little bit of scrabbling.
July 12, 2020Our headlamps weren't bright enough to go to the end -- bring STRONG lights. stick to the right cave, it looks like it just goes to a meadow, but it is indeed a long cave system that doesn't smell like piss...as much. Also the walk to the caves was a little confusing bc lots of different foot paths visible, but they all lead back to the main one. Around noon there were only 4 cars. By 1:30 on there were many troupes of children.
July 5, 2020June 27, 2020Trail down to the cave was overgrown.
June 26, 2020Loved this short hike! The caves are amazing!! The first one is just not good in terms of the urine smell, but the other ones are just fine. Bring a good headlight, we stopped in the last one because we didn’t have enough light so keep going a little further. It’s rocky, avoid sandals :) Went there around 5:00 and sun was just too much for me: being water and a hat! :) Didn’t see any other soul there.
June 19, 2020MUST DO. Follow map to pit. When you down it looks like the big cave on the left but no! Go to the little cave on right. (The cave on left stink of urine but once you go rights the smell goes away) You go down and up to another cave that takes you down to the real cave. There is a lot of rock you must go over. If you chose wisely it’s pretty easy. Don’t be afraid to back track and find another way if you come up against a hard obstacle. Take flashlights.
June 16, 2020The road to the trailhead is pretty rough, but it was no problem for a Miata so any car can probably make it! Very cool caves to explore. Next time I'll come back with my hiking boots and with a couple of flashlights with extra batteries. You can explore quite a bit with just your phone light, but it eventually goes pretty deep and dark. My gps jumped around a bit in the caves, so the track that I uploaded is not too great.
May 26, 2020Super awesome place to explore! We started around 4pm, our phone flashlight was enough to navigate for that time of day (in May). The trail was hot until you drop down into the collapsed lava tube and then it’s a refreshing cool temp. We were the only people in the caves...not too sure about other living things hehe We had our 1yo in a carrier and felt confidently navigating over and through the rocks. We checked the cave to the left but travelled the trail under the arch and through a couple caves to the right. We stopped at the HUGE cave that seemed to fade into black oblivion. You’d need a serious flashlight for that, some courage and maybe even a backup pair of pants. So fun! Glad we stopped!
May 24, 2020The trail wasn't clearly marked but we managed to find our way. The wildflowers dotting the landscape with the lava rock and tall junipers is pretty. The cave itself had large rocks to scramble across. I wouldn't take children or dogs.
