Within the Black Hills of South Dakota lies a jewel in the national crown, and we mean that quite literally: Jewel Cave National Monument. This crystalline cave system currently spans 175 miles and counting, with explorers mapping new areas of the cave at a rate of about five miles per year. Its already impressive length makes it the third longest cave in the world, and there’s no end in sight for eager adventurers.
Although the original discoverers of Jewel Cave quickly found that all the glittering beauty of its calcite crystals and unique formations wasn’t profitable as a tourist destination in the year 1900, the cave continued to hold the interest of explorers and tourists throughout history, eventually garnering the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt, who declared it a national monument in 1908. Today, virtually anyone can visit Jewel Cave National Monument and see what this crystal-covered cave of wonders is all about, with a variety of regular tours offered by the National Park Service for people of all ages and abilities.
You can even go beyond the areas most of the population will see by booking a Wild Caving Tour, which takes you into undeveloped regions of the cave. Those who are interested should be warned that this is rather intense adventuring — three to four hours of crawling, rope climbing down walls, and wriggling through tight passages. If you can manage to get through all that, the rewards will be amazing: incredible and rare cave formations built by millions of years of slowly dripping water enriched with minerals. The park service offers a hardhat and headlamp for this tour, but be sure to do your research on what else to bring before you go.
Check out this rather entertaining and educational video chronicling Jewel Cave’s curious discovery to its current place as a national monument…doesn’t it make you want to explore?
Images via sunchild123, Wikipedia
