Going Underground to Uncover a Story

California, home to surfers, Disneyland, the Golden Gate Bridge . . . and thousands of caves?

Actually, the Golden State has nearly 3,000 known caves, according to Christopher Richard, curator of “California Underground: Our Caves and Subterranean Habitats,” opening Saturday at the Oakland Museum of California.

Adventurous visitors can crawl into the 5,000-square-foot exhibit through a simulated cave passage; the claustrophobic can use a regular door. Once inside, you can wriggle beneath “cave formations,” try your hand at cave surveying, compare your senses to those of bats and peruse photos of eerie underground structures.

Only a handful of California caves are commercially run, Richard said, including California Caverns near San Andreas and Lake Shasta Caverns north of Redding. Many more are on public lands. Richard advises contacting local chapters of the National Speleological Society for information.

The Oakland exhibit runs through Jan. 9, 2000. The museum is open Wednesdays through Sundays; adult admission is $6. Call (888) 625-6873.