July 23rd Jewel Cave National Monument

We slept in, packed up a picnic lunch and then did some work on the inside and outside of the trailer because our Jewel Cave tour reservations were for 1:45pm. Jewel Cave is a national monument instead of a national park so it does not receive the funding that Wind Cave does which means there are fewer rangers available to lead tours and there are fewer areas in the cave that are "tour ready" (meaning no lights or paths). It's also "free" just like Wind Cave with the exception of the cave tours. Tour prices ranged from $5.00 to $8.00 with Senior / Access National Pass holders receiving a 50% discount. After a 45 minute commute which took us outside of Custer SP and past the small town of Custer we arrived at the national monument where we took advantage of it's nicely maintained picnic area. After lunch, when we were in line at Jewel Cave to pick up our reserved tickets we saw many folks being turned away because all of the tours for the day were already sold out. In fact we heard a ranger telling one family group that the next tour opening was 2 days away so we felt pretty darn lucky that I was able to reserve the "Lantern Tour" the day before. The "Lantern Tour" is a 1 3/4 hour tour that follows the paths of early cave explorers using only oil lanterns for light (well, if you are a little kid you get an electric "oil" lamp so you won't burn yourself. I selected an electric "oil" lamp myself). The tour started at a historic ranger cabin that was built by the CCC. The ranger / guide pretended that we are in the year 1936 and provided the history and geology of the cave as it was known during that time period. After the cabin tour we all picked up our oil lamps and descended many steps down to the "natural" cave entrance. Back in the day the first explorers used dynamite to enlarge the opening so I'm thinking it's not so natural anymore. Anyway, we entered the cave and within moments were descending old, steep steps down deep into the cave. It seemed like we were descending 1000s of feet but the ranger said we only went down about 150 feet. It was a tight fit and we were going through small holes in the cave instead of paths. Lots of bending and stooping and it was wicked dark too! Even with my lantern I could not see my feet or where the next step should be. Up and down (mostly down) stairs we went until we got to a small room where we viewed the calcite crystals that lined the walls of most of the known cave. Jewel Cave is named for rooms and passages that are lined with the jewel like calcite crystals which sparkle like gems with illuminated. It was magic! As the tour progressed our guide left 1936 and came back to the present to provide us with the current understanding of the geology of this cave with the most fascinating being it's projected size. Per our guide and the exhibits in the visitor center it is believed that only 5% of the cave has been discovered / explored. If this is true than Jewel Cave has the potential to be the largest cave in the world. Right now 146.1 miles of passages and rooms have been documented (this is updated everyday) compared to the current largest cave in the world (Mammoth Cave in KY) which is listed at 387 miles. Remember at 146.1 miles it is thought that only 5% of the cave has been discovered! I'll keep an eye on this over the next few years to see if it actually does end up being the largest cave, wouldn't that be cool! Half way through our tour it was time to head back and of course we had to climb up all of the 750 steps we can down on. There was lots of panting going on, even the little kids were struggling with the climb. Oh, I should mention that cameras were not suggested due to the tight spaces so I did not bring mine in. Others did, in fact one family took about 30 pictures of themselves during the round trip which blinded the group each time their flash went off. I was thinking to myself how many pictures does one need of of themselves next to brown rock? Oh well, I hope they enjoy their memories. As this was our last night in the area we decided to spurge by going out to dinner at Sylvan Lake Lodge within Custer State Park. We arrived a bit early for dinner so we got a couple of drinks from the bar and found a good spot to use the lodge's free Internet access to do a couple of blog updates. We went to dinner around 7:00pm and we both ordered game. Leon got bison and I got elk which we shared. The food was wonderful and worth the $$$ though the service not so much. The wait staff were friendly but not well trained which distracted from the fine dining room and food. After dinner we headed back to camp to begin to pack up as we were leaving South Dakota and heading to Devils Tower in Wyoming in the morning.