2015 - 07 - 10: Day 26 Scenic Destinations - Jewel Caves of the Black Hills

From Jewel Caves in the Black Hills of South Dakota
To Rapid City 
Distance Traveled: 55 miles 

I awoke early to the birdsong around my camp site. 
After my peanut-butter sandwich breakfast and camp breakdown I was on the road for the short ride to the Jewel Cave parking lot and to start the line up to get first tour tickets.

I was the first one there and sat in my folding chair editing photo’s to await opening time at the ticket booth.  I was not the only one with such ideas and soon very nice lady and her14 year old son joined me, and then a few others.  We passed the time chatting and exchanging travel stories.

I decided to do 2 cave tours.  The lantern tour, to the original / first discovered part of the cave, and the second one to the newer part, called the scenic tour.  Carla and her son also decided to do both tours.

Once we had our tickets we headed to the other parking lot for the first tour.   Time to sit and wait again for the tour to start so a snack of some cheese and sweet peppers to energize for the 1hour and 45 minute tour.

We had a very informative tour guide who started by giving us lanterns.  One person in each family got LED powered lanterns and the second person in the family got an oil powered lantern.  Since I am alone I picked the oil lantern for “the real experience”.

Once everyone had their lanterns we were off for the tour.  A short hike brought us to the rock wall entrance (which is now barred by a gate so people can’t get in without a guide)

The tour was amazing.  Walking with only the light of a lantern to guide where you place your feet is a totally different experience that taking a tour with controlled electrical lighting.  It is amazing how much more difficult stairs are to manage and you can really get the feeling for how hard it would be in these tunnels before stairs. Scrambling over rough surfaces on incline with poor illumination must have been very challenging to say the least.

When this tour was over headed quickly back to the main visitor centre.  We had 20 minutes to rehydrate, grab a snack and be ready for the next tour.

This was the modern tour, going down into the cave by elevator and then following cement smoothed passages and steel stairs to navigate level changes and of course, electric lighting.   The cave formations we saw were pretty special and as always I was entranced by nature's art work.

When we got out from this second tour it was almost 2 pm.  Carla and I exchanged email information as we want to stay in touch.  She lives in Fort Mayers which is close to our place in Venice FL and we made tentative plans to meet in the fall.

approaching Custer 

Going our separate ways I decided to head for Rapid City. Heading east on highway 16 I passed through Custer. 







Then continuing on there was the scenic drive through the winding roads past rocks cliffs towering towards the cloudy skies.

Hill City 

In Hill City I stopped for a short "stretch" break. Seems there were a lot of other people with the same plan. 

View toward Rapid City 

Leaving Hills city it was not much further to come out of the hills and see Rapid City spread out before me in the valley below. 

I stopped at Sam's Club in Rapid City to get gas and groceries before heading to a McDonald’s for wifi where I checked my messages. 

For the evening I headed to a nearby park for my supper break with a view to a fishing pond and rose gardens. 

While it was still light out I enjoyed a walk in the park and along the river.  It was very pleasant, as with the fading of daylight the evening grew comfortably cool.  

There was a Holiday Inn nearby with a great big parking lot. I think they do a lot of conferences here.   I settled in for the night.  I really felt tired and was happy to not have to do anymore driving.

Renate Dundys Marrello 

link to the photo album 

Today's travel route 

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