Jewel Cave National Monument (SD)

Jewel Cave is located beneath South Dakota's Black Hills, not far from Mt. Rushmore. Several years ago, I toured Wind Cave which is the other National Park Service cave located nearby. Jewel Cave was discovered around 1900 by 2 brothers and a freind, and finding what they believed to be sparkling jewels, they gave the cave its name. It was declared a National Monument in 1908 and was thought to be quite small. It now measures 140 mapped miles, and more mileage is surveyed and mapped each year. Scientists calculate that less than 2% of the cave has been discovered and explored. We took the 1.5 hour Scenic Loop Tour, which began with an elevator descent 280 feet below the surface. Our path was mostly metal walkways and stairways as seen in the 2 photos below.





Though a very safe half mile walk deemed moderately strenuous due to the up and down of the 700+ stairs you must negotiate, you must watch your head in many areas and the passage can be narrow at times. The temperature is a constant 49 degrees and since the cave "breathes" and adjusts to the outside barometric pressure, winds of up to 32 mph can exist.


The features found in the cave are colorful and artistic and some of the "rooms" are hundreds of feet long and fifty or more feet high and some of the passages run 3200 feet long. Below are some of the sights seen in the cave: