Friday, August 28, 2009

August 28, 2009

Jewel Cave

Drove from the Badlands to The Black Hills.  We parked the carbus in a nice RV and Horse camp.  (Separate parts of the park)  The park is just outside Custer, SD which is a good central location to tour the many areas of the Black Hills.  We had the afternoon free so we called to see if there were openings in today’s tour schedule at Jewel Cave.  We lucked out and got spots in a tour a couple of hours from then.  Time for lunch and the drive out to the cave.  Jewel Cave is the second longest (explored) cave in the world and they are still exploring and mapping it.  Only a very small part is open for public tours ( about a mile total of the nearly 150 miles explored).  There are a number of formations that are unique to this cave but most are too sensitive to let lots of people near them.  The cave got its name from crystal formations that are throughout the cave.  Here is a small example.DSC03086

The crystals shine like the crystals inside of a geode.  In the right light it looks like the walls of the cave are covered with jewels, hence the name.



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