Skip to content
cavernyas
EN
Indianechocaverns

United States United States Show cave

Indian Echo Caverns

11 °C inside, all year.

Show caveStalactitesUnderground river

See the descentHow to visit

Spika · CC BY-SA 4.0

The descent

The entrance, at 116 m.

The real relief above Indian Echo Caverns, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.

depth not publishedEntrance274 m1.0 kmvertical × 12.3depth not publishedEntrance274 m1.0 kmvertical × 26.7

The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.

116m

Entrance altitude

from the 30 m relief model

11°C

Inside, all year

the yearly average outside, at the entrance

27m

Rock above

the highest point within 1.5 km

Inside and outside

11 °C inside, all year.

Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 11 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 30 °C at the entrance, 19 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from June to August.

outside, at the entrance (116 m)inside
  1. 2°-6°Jan
  2. 3°-6°Feb
  3. 9°-2°Mar
  4. 17°4°Apr
  5. 22°11°May
  6. 27°16°Jun
  7. 30°19°Jul
  8. 30°18°Aug
  9. 26°14°Sep
  10. 18°7°Oct
  11. 11°1°Nov
  12. 4°-3°Dec
Inside: 11 °C all yearEscape the heat: Jun–AugFrost outside: Dec–Feb

Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.

Cave in Pennsylvania, United States

Indian Echo Caverns is a show cave in United States. The entrance is at 116 m. It has an underground river and stalactites and stalagmites. It is open to visitors.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there.

Plan the visit

Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The water

The Swatara Creek runs highest from March to June and from September to November.

The Swatara Creek carries about 23 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from March to June and from September to November.

  1. 10 m³/sJan
  2. 14 m³/sFeb
  3. 48 m³/sMar
  4. 68 m³/sApr
  5. 53 m³/sMay
  6. 35 m³/sJun
  7. 21 m³/sJul
  8. 9.9 m³/sAug
  9. 35 m³/sSep
  10. 54 m³/sOct
  11. 28 m³/sNov
  12. 15 m³/sDec

From about 9.9 m³/s in the lowest month to 68 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 1,417 km².

Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.

From above.

The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.

The ground above Indian Echo Caverns (Sentinel-2) N 1.5 km

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around the entrance.

  • 1other cave entrances within 3 kmIndian Echo Caverns
  • 40car parks within 2 km
  • 2information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
  • 2campsites within 8 kmHersheypark Camping Resort, Harrisburg East Campground and Storage
  • 57hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmHershey Travel Inn, Howard Johnson Inn Hershey, Hampton Inn & Suites Hershey Near The Park and 54 more
  • 21restaurants and cafés within 3 km
  • springs within 2 km
  • sinkholes within 3 km
  • caving clubs and spots within 15 km
  • viewpoints within 3 km
  • marked hiking routes within 3 km
  • climbing crags within 3 km
  • named waterfalls within 4 km
  • bus stops within 2 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Towns nearby

  • Hummelstown1.6 km in a straight line
  • Rutherford4.7 km in a straight line
  • Middletown6.0 km in a straight line
  • Hershey6.7 km in a straight line
  • Lawnton7.4 km in a straight line
  • Royalton7.4 km in a straight line
  • Highspire7.8 km in a straight line
  • Colonial Park9.5 km in a straight line

In our other atlases

What else is around Indian Echo Caverns.

The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Month by month

The weather outside, at the entrance.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon23917222730302618114
Afternoon23917222730302618114
Night-6-6-24111619181471-3
Rain (mm)706882941061151161051191097792
Rainy days9810111314141310989
Sun hours/day3.54.75.26.46.77.98.47.36.34.84.22.9
Snow on the ground (cm)151592000001413
AfternoonAfternoonNightRain (mm)Sun hours/day
Jan22-6703.5
Feb33-6684.7
Mar99-2825.2
Apr17174946.4
May2222111066.7
Jun2727161157.9
Jul3030191168.4
Aug3030181057.3
Sep2626141196.3
Oct181871094.8
Nov11111774.2
Dec44-3922.9

Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (116 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.

Photographs

Inside and around.

Indianechocaverns
Spika · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recent years

Wet years, dry years.

Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020105%98%120%147%56%77%76%109%46%87%127%116%
202163%139%82%63%96%63%131%145%207%84%58%38%
202279%137%88%87%135%79%55%80%90%84%117%123%
2023106%50%81%118%12%80%136%104%94%60%71%160%
2024202%85%128%138%111%68%90%157%56%14%79%90%
202533%76%63%71%206%109%100%37%40%81%47%57%

130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month

Caves nearby.

Indian Echo Caverns

United States

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 116 mEntrance altitude
  • 11 °CInside, all year

Crystal Cave

United States · 80 km

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 140 mEntrance altitude
  • 11 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Crystal Grottoes

United States · 117 km

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 146 mEntrance altitude
  • 12 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Coudersport Ice Mine

United States · 197 km

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 597 mEntrance altitude
  • 0 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name, type, published depth and length, visitorsWikidata (Q15228646) · CC0
The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
River flow and basinHydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0
ClimateNASA POWER, 1991–2020
Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearbyCoastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit
cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.You are here
dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Coming soonVisit
forestsForestyaEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit