We’re goin’ down. Down, down, down, down, down.
Thursday - 6/26
This was a really neat experience. The tour started out with some tears as Jackson grabbed the top of Charlotte’s lamp and burned his finger. Guess he was not listening to the Ranger when he told us that they would be very hot.
We learned about how the cave system was formed, how it was discovered and explored during the early years. The entire system was almost scrapped and closed off in the mid 50’s until a student doing his graduate thesis decided to do some exploring and discovered over 100 miles of caves beyond the 2 that had been open to the public. Discovery of new parts of the cave system is ongoing and it is currently listed at 142.38 miles.
When we got back, we started a fire and just sat outside and relaxed. Then in came the storms again. It was again a mad dash to batten down the hatches. The storms are pretty cool as they roll in over the hills, but when they roll in, they roll in fast.
As I am sitting here writing, I can hear the thunder in the distance and hear the rain on the rooftop. Guess it was a good call not to head over to Crazy Horse this evening for the big blast.
We are going to call it an early evening, as we have both Mount Rushmore and a jeep ride into buffalo herds on tap for Friday.
Today was a trip to Jewel Cave. It is the second longest cave system in the world. There were 4 different trips offered: a simple look inside the cave, a sightseeing tour, a spelunking tour (must be 16) or an historical (lantern) tour (strenuous).
We opted for the historical tour. It started out with a Ranger who was in 1930’s National Park Service garb, handing out oil lamps to each of us.
http://www.nps.gov/jeca/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm
We then proceeded to the original entrance to the cave, only used for this tour. We then ducked our way in and walked, climbed, crawled for a half a mile. We made it up and down the equivalent of 20 stories through the 4 levels of the cave system.
We opted for the historical tour. It started out with a Ranger who was in 1930’s National Park Service garb, handing out oil lamps to each of us.
http://www.nps.gov/jeca/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm
We then proceeded to the original entrance to the cave, only used for this tour. We then ducked our way in and walked, climbed, crawled for a half a mile. We made it up and down the equivalent of 20 stories through the 4 levels of the cave system.
This was a really neat experience. The tour started out with some tears as Jackson grabbed the top of Charlotte’s lamp and burned his finger. Guess he was not listening to the Ranger when he told us that they would be very hot.
We learned about how the cave system was formed, how it was discovered and explored during the early years. The entire system was almost scrapped and closed off in the mid 50’s until a student doing his graduate thesis decided to do some exploring and discovered over 100 miles of caves beyond the 2 that had been open to the public. Discovery of new parts of the cave system is ongoing and it is currently listed at 142.38 miles.
When we got back, we started a fire and just sat outside and relaxed. Then in came the storms again. It was again a mad dash to batten down the hatches. The storms are pretty cool as they roll in over the hills, but when they roll in, they roll in fast.
As I am sitting here writing, I can hear the thunder in the distance and hear the rain on the rooftop. Guess it was a good call not to head over to Crazy Horse this evening for the big blast.
We are going to call it an early evening, as we have both Mount Rushmore and a jeep ride into buffalo herds on tap for Friday.