We had a good night last night – dark, cool, and quiet – and awoke to sunny blue skies. After our yogurt breakfast we drove to Jewel Cave National Monument. Jewel Cave is a very unusual cave in that most all of the walls are covered with calcite crystals; predominately nailhead spar and dogtooth spar. It is also the second longest cave in the world currently at 147miles and is still being explored and mapped. There are many metal walkways, platforms, and steps which make for sure footing though they do take away somewhat from the naturalness of the caving journey. There are relatively few formations but those that they have are very nice.
From there we drove back to the town of Custer, SD and then drove south to Wind Cave National Park. We were fortunate to get the last two spaces on their Candlelight Tour as they only take ten people at a time and only do two of these tours per day. Since we had a little time we then made sandwiches and ate lunch before going on the tour. Before going into the cave we all got candle buckets and gloves. Much of the passage that we traveled through was not developed but rather just a “pathway” winding among the rocks with places where we had to go over or under to get through. Also there was no lighting other than the candle bucket lights that we each carried. It was very reminiscent of our younger days when we used to do a lot of caving but we used carbide lights that did provide more light than a candle. Like Jewel Cave, Wind Cave has very few formations other than boxwork calcite formations which cover a lot of the ceiling and some of the walls. Wind Cave is the fourth longest cave in the world with about 120 miles and they are still exploring it also. After our two hour tour we walked a path to see the natural entrance. It was just a vertical hole in the rock that most people would not be able to fit through and you could hear the air rushing through it. We then saw the visitor center and their movie about the cave.
We are at the south end of the Black Hills of South Dakota where there is prairie land, a transitional zone, and then coniferous forest. As we left the Wind Cave visitor center we passed by a large buffalo herd. Wind Cave National Park has about 29,000 acres and is a wildlife sanctuary for a herd of about 350 buffalo which roam freely throughout the park. Just a little further north along the road we stopped for a one mile hike to a fire lookout tower on Rankin Ridge. There we had great views of the surrounding countryside. Driving through the park we also passed by a lot of areas where there were fields of prairie dogs. Continuing north we then entered back into Custer State Park. We soon came to a herd of about 40 buffalo scattering along the road on both sides and some crossing back and forth. While in the state park we drove a 15 miles wildlife road through prairie land. At first we saw very little wildlife, just an occasional deer, pronghorn, or buffalo. While stopped at an information kiosk about the wildlife we noticed a small herd of wild burrows in the distance. More cars stopped and the burrows headed towards us. They were obviously quite accustomed to people as they wandered among the people looking for handouts, hoping to be fed. Further along the road we stopped to watch a small group of pronghorn at the edge of the road that included two young. The little ones were fascinating to watch as they would jump or run short distances as if practicing their skills. They seemed to have no fear of us but as other cars began stopping they moved away. We enjoyed all of our wildlife viewings with each type of animal having young which made them even more interesting to watch. It was amazing how tiny the baby prairie dogs were as they wandered somewhat from their holes.
As the sun was setting we drove east then north to the town of Rapid City, SD which, with 60,000 people, is the largest city we have been to since Portland, OR. We found the Walmart and were excited to see a Golden Corral restaurant next to it. After enjoying our dinner feast we parked the van at Walmart for the night.
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