wheelsonfire1: Wind Cave and Jewel Cave

July 6th We set out to see the caves in the area. Our first stop was Wind Cave National Park. It became a national park in 1903 and it was the first cave admitted to the national park system. This place was discovered when a couple of cowboys found the hole and the wind coming out the the foot round hole blew his hat off. The next day he drug a bunch of town folk with him to see the hole and when he bent over, the hat was sucked off his head and disappeared into the cave.
The cave breathes with changes in barometric pressure and it was really sucking in the air when we visited. After looking at the visitors center and reading about the feud over the cave, a ranger gave us a personal discovery tour. All tours are lead by rangers and this young lady took us down into several chambers of the cave that I could easily get to. The cave is the 6th longest in the world at 140.47 miles long and an average of 4 miles a year are being discovered and mapped. It is considered one of the most complex caves in the world as it is in a relatively small space and layers are stacked on one another like levels in a home.
There are lots of stairs and getting around in a wheelchair isn't the easiest but they accommodated me and we got an up close look at the cave.

These formations coming out of the rock here are the beginning of box work. It won't do anything other than this. It is formed when calcite crystals formed in the cracks of the limestone. Then the limestone was washed away to form the cave leaving the calcite behind in box like patterns.

NPS picture of box work from the Elks Room. http://www.nps.gov/wica/learn/nature/images/Boxwork-in-Elks-Room_1.jpg

The white on the ceiling is called popcorn. It looks just like the popcorn finish on our ceilings that everyone hates.

Add caption

A geode in the stone.

We left Wind Cave after we ate our packed lunches and headed for Jewel Cave National Monument. If you're concerned about White Nose Syndrome, Wind Cave doesn't have bats and in Jewel Cave we weren't anywhere that the bats are. We were about five miles into the cave from the natural entrance where the elevator goes down.
If you want to visit Jewel Cave get there about 7:30 in the morning to stand in line because tours sell out quick. We got there in the afternoon and were able to get onto an introductory tour (which was the only one I could take as the rest use stairs). We waited around for about two hours for the tour to begin and entertained ourselves with some snacks and Patrick trying out for the caving tour. Travesty for the day was when Patrick realized that he left his Jimmy Johnson hat outside while we were in the cave. Fortunately it was there when we came out.

Finally we descended into the earth on South Dakota's longest elevator and checked out a massive cavern called the Target Room. Two cavers worked their way to this room and pounded a pin into a rock which was used as a target to drill a locator hole so they could survey for the elevator placement.
This is the third longest cave in the world with 170 miles of mapped passages. There are more being explored every year and inside the cave it is 49 degrees. It was cold!

The stairs on the left lead to a 500 foot tunnel out in case power fails or they need to do more construction work in the cave. I asked who was going to haul me up the stairs. Patrick didn't volunteer. He said I could wait for power to come back on. I feel the love!

Add caption

Where the natural cave tour comes out.

This stuff is called hounds tooth

We stopped in Custer City for supper. It was late and an hour back to the trailer. We ended up at Steakhouse 140. It was good food and not over priced.