Natural Bridges Hiking Trail

This is a homerun of a hike with one of the coolest payoffs ever, a FREAKING CAVE YOU CAN SWIM THROUGH! If you don't do this you will be sad, so pack a float, water shoes, and a change of clothes! My family of four (2.5 and 5.5 year old) really enjoyed ourselves here. The trail is mostly flat red clay with some rocky sections and mostly shaded in trees. There are a few exposed sections so hats, sunglasses and sunscreen are all recommended. The trail descends gradually into a small canyon and the walk isn't very technical. It's also easy to see where to go where not to as well. When you get to the bottom you'll find the cave! You'll also probably be hot and sweaty, and the cool waters coming from the cave will almost call to you. I personally couldn't wait to jump in, so that's exactly what I did. Swimming through the cave was a surreal experience. The water is cold and dark and a little scary because it's also deep! There are some very cool rock formations almost hovering over the water adding to the eerie atmosphere. From the mouth of the cave you can barely see that there's another side you'll eventually reach, so the first time I felt like I was jus swimming into the abyss! It does open up though, and there's some great sunny area to warm up in before heading back through. Most reviews recommend floats to get through because of the water temps and I'd generally agree. Having swam in mountain streams, lakes and rivers, I didn't think it was that cold, especially as I was pushing my kiddo through on a float and the adrenaline was pumping. If you don't want to swim through, the stream that comes out of the cave has several smaller pools and areas you can cool off in too. These are perfect for smaller kids! Lastly, depending on the time of year it does get very hot on the trail, even in the shade, so plan your visit accordingly if you want to avoid that experience.

Nice easy hike even for the little ones. It's about 3 miles to and back. No pets allowed. Parking was a little full by the mid afternoon. Suggest to go earlier. Enjoyed the hike and the cave.

Beautiful location! The hike down is about 0.8 miles, with a lot of small rocks along the way that make the path interesting and a tad challenging, particularly on the way back up. There are some grafittied picnic tables along the way, but not so bad as to ruin the trip. There is a glorified portapotty at the top, at the time well-stocked, but no water. You'll need to pay a small parking fee, via envelopes at the entrance.The hike itself is gorgeous, with several nice views overlooking the small valley, and the caves. The water-filled caves at the bottom are well worth the hike! The water is gorgeous and the rock formations are stunning. Not sure how the weekend is, but my Thursday noon visit didn't have too many people, so it was easy to enjoy the water and scenery.

7/2/2021We had a couple hours to spare today and decided to go on a small hike. We found Natural Bridges to be a good 1.5 mile hike to explore with our kids before heading into Angels Camp for our afternoon adventure. It's slightly off the beaten path and a fairly sharp turn. There is a single bathroom (not flushable) avail to use and has toilet paper but no sanitary covers and it smellllls of course. There is parking on the side of the road. We arrived at 10am and it was HOT out! Bring cold water and wear comfy shoes and/or bring water shoes as it's a very rocky trail leading to the cave. We got to the cavern and the chilly water was very much the welcome we needed after hiking the hot trail. Wasn't over crowded and it was pretty chill when we arrived. We saw a few nice people bring tubes and rafts out to ride into the cave which we heard can go 250ft distance. They were nice enough to offer us to use them but we had somewhere else to be. You can swim in it if you're up for it but it appeared ppl enjoyed looking up at the cave. There are table/benches to have - picnic or lunch along the trail. We had to leave at noon to make our appt and it was much harder going back up the hiking trail in the heat vs walking down towards the cave. There was definitely more people heading in when we were heading out at noon. We would come back and bring tubes in the future. It's a hidden gem that seems to be trending so might not be hidden very long.

Great hike! Not very challenging - carry lots of water. Gets quite crowded during later parts of the noon. You can carry beach blankets because there is plenty of area in the shade of the cave that you can sit and chill at.Would be fun to carry tubes to enjoy the river that flows inside a cave. It is a little deep when going further inside the cave so you have to swim or be on a tube. We swam but it was kinda scary and also tough since you can't look at the beautiful ceiling of the cave while swimming very easily. Water is pretty cold but you get used to it.Fun helpful people - we were able to request someone to borrow their tube to experience the cave.Such an incredible experience!

It was so cool. It is definitely some downhill walking so be prepared. It was so pretty and I recommend this trail if youre in the area and can walk about a mile and some change.

About an hour from sacramento. have to do a short hike to get to the cave but it's a super nice spot! Bring a floatie and get there early for parking!

Perfect day outing with the family! Parking is $8, cash or check only. Envelopes are at the front gate entrance & you need a pen/pencil to fill out your car info. Arriving early is best as parking is limited.A short hike (less than a mile) and a quick dip in the water! We brought a couple of floaties and a battery pump to inflate/deflate. It was fun to float through the cave - crowded but enjoyable. There are smaller bodies of water if you do not want to float. We all forgot our water shoes so having some would've made it slightly more enjoyable as walking barefoot on all the rocks was uncomfortable (but doable).On our way back home we stopped at a deli in Angels camp - loved it!

GPS guided us to this no-sign, unpaved, hard-to find parking alley, that is totally unacceptable for the city/county/state to call it an attraction view point.

Such a cute findTrail looks magical and so does the entrance of the caveIt's a short cave but worth while to go explore Bring floaties to relax through it