California's most remote state park, Providence Mountains State Recreation Area is the home of Mitchell Caverns Natural Preserve. Nestled on the flank of the Providence Mountains, El Pakiva Cave and Tecopa Cave are limestone caves which nature has elaborately decorated with familiar cave formations such as stalactites, stalagmites and columns and more rare formations such as cave shields, helictites and coral pipes. Jack and Ida Mitchell, who created a small "resort" on the property, first opened the caves for tours in 1934. The area became a State Park in 1956 and still contains the only limestone caves in the California State Park system.