The Savona Caves Trail is a short and steep route to cliffs on the east side of Mount Savona.   To find the trailhead, drive south on the Tunkwa Lake Road for about 11.5 km from Savona and turn onto the Savona Mountain Road.   At 0.6 up the forest service road, watch for a dirt double track on the right.   Park near the junction and hike up the track toward the mountain.

The double track ends in 0.4 km and a single track then winds through the forest for about 0.5 km.   The trail was obvious and was flagged when we were there in September, 2018.

The real work begins at the foot of a rocky ridge.    Some care is required on the loose surface as the route climbs the ridge toward the cliffs above.   This section is steep and requires some careful scrambling to get all the way to the caves.

Since the caves are in the cliffs, we have to traverse some rocky slopes to get to the entrance.

There are several caves to explore, most of which are too low to stand up in.   These were probably the result of long-term erosion of a limestone layer in the cliffs.  There are some pictographs at the entrance which are reputed to be authentic.

We can explore 3 caves with some careful scrambling, but there are more caves higher in the cliffs too.   We slowly descended the rocky ridge on the way back and noticed the moon over the mountain at midday.

The return hike is only about 3.5  km but it takes 2 hours of hiking since the upper end of the route is a bit rough and more difficult.      It may not be a suitable hike for families with some exposure at the top and rough and loose footing on the ridge.   Good boots and hiking poles are recommended.

We first hiked the Savona Caves Trail in 1976 and we can say it hasn’t changed much in the last 42 years.    There are more posts on the Savona Caves Hike on this website.    Use the Search Bar for more information.