Family Nature Summits: Black Hills Summit

Guided Scenic Tour 1.5 hours
Discovered in 1900, Jewel Cave has over 200 miles of surveyed limestone passages. It is famous for its calcite crystals that sparkled like “jewels” by the light of their lanterns,  gypsum formations, and extensive limestone formations. Cave temperature is 49 degrees, and fully enclosed footwear is required (absolutely no openings); no bags of any kind are allowed on the cave tour.

Cost: $17

The land in Wind Cave National Park is sacred land to the Cheyenne and Lakota.   There is a story of how the Lakota emerged from the spirit world through a passageway called MAKA ONIYE, or “breathing earth”.  This was Wind Cave.  People were to wait in this spirit world until Earth was ready for them to be born.
 
As I scouted the land above the cave, I used my “camera eyes”, perpetually scouring the landscape for great photo opportunities.  As I peered across the spacious, rolling hills, I began to view the top layer of the prairie as skin.  When the skin is peeled back, what’s below emerges.  This field trip has us traversing two above-ground backroads of Wind Cave National Park.  The entry road into the southern boundary of the Park is aptly called Red Valley Road, and red it is!!   As we progress along these roads, we are quite probably traversing above some remarkable land features that are hidden to us by the prairie skin.  In a few places, the skin has been peeled back by the great powers of the Earth – water, wind, and fire, and we become privy to the beauty underneath the prairie skin. 
 
The treasures that await us are deep red winding gullies, solitary sentinel trees, yucca, mullein, bison, prairie dogs, fantastic rock formations, and curious donkeys. You’ll develop your “camera eyes” and with plenty of help available from your (mostly) fearless leader, you can maximize gorgeous compositions to bring home.
 
I will be bringing my cell phone, of course, but also my DSLR and one zoom lens that will accommodate my personal aesthetic.  I found the brightness of this environment to be challenging, due to my cell phone’s screen being quite hidden by the glare of the sun.  Cell phones will still gather amazing images, but help yourself out by bringing a wide-brimmed hat.  (If you don’t own one, before the Summit is the time to shop for one!)  It will shade the brightness sufficiently to help you see the screen and take your compositions more seriously.  A DSLR will be the key to slowing down and really painting your compositions on your image sensor.  With today’s image stabilization built in to most DSLR bodies and lenses, you will be able to make camera settings that allow you to leave the tripod at home or in your cabin.  Your (mostly) fearless leader will assist you in knowing those camera settings.
 
This is a road trip, not a hike, and will be offered twice.  We’ll stop and shoot at places where my “camera eyes” detected great opportunities for images that define the land that hides Wind Cave under the prairie skin.  I aim for you to develop your own interpretation of this remarkable landscape, and maybe you’ll adopt my sense that the prairie has many treasures hidden below its skin. 
 
Comfort Notes:
1)    There are no bathrooms, but halfway through the trip, I’ve identified a pretty good spot in some trees to pee discreetly. Bring a bit of tissue and a plastic sandwich bag to collect your tissue. I’ll have a larger plastic bag to contain your used supplies and we’ll toss everything when we get to a waste bin back in civilization.)
 
I strongly frown on sandals or open-toed shoes for this trip.  Closed shoes help protect from ticks.  I wear leg gaiters permeated with permethrin.  From the van to where you’ll stand for best compositions, you need to walk “over there” (i.e., not far) through short prairie grass.  Bring closed shoes, some kind of tick protection, and leave the sandals in your room.

The Historic Lantern Tour is an adventurous tour into Jewel Cave.
Step back in to the past on the Historic Lantern Tour, where your Park Ranger is dressed in a 1930s-style uniform. This adventure gives you a sense of what it was like to tour the cave in earlier days. Visitors enter and leave the cave through the historic entrance using an unpaved trail. The only light is provided by a lantern that most tour participants carry. This tour is considered strenuous and lasts about 1 hour and 45 minutes.
The tour route is approximately 1/2 mile long through low, narrow passages, and includes roughly 500 steep wooden steps (ladder-like stairs). Some of the stairs require participants to go down backwards. This tour requires some bending, stooping, and duck walking along an unpaved, rocky trail.

Preparing for a Historic Lantern Tour
- Sturdy, lace-up hiking boots or shoes (designed for trail) with aggressive tread are required. No slick-soled or open-toed footwear is permitted. Tennis shoes, five-fingered toe shoes, sandals, cowboy boots, and climbing shoes of any kind are not allowed. If questionable, park rangers may ask that you change your footwear before taking part in the tour. If the visitor does not have appropriate footwear, they will be denied access to the cave tour.
- Wear long pants and a light jacket or sweater. The cave temperature is 49°F or 9°C. Wear appropriate clothing to spend an hour and twenty minutes in the cool temperatures.
- Persons who have heart or respiratory conditions, foot or lower joint problems, have recently been hospitalized or have claustrophobia should talk with a park ranger before selecting this tour. All tour participants must be able to navigate the stairs unassisted.
- Due to the rugged nature of the cave and for personal safety, please leave large cameras, all bags, and other items secured in your vehicle. Cameras must fit in your pocket.
- All visitors participating in the Historic Lantern Tour are required to walk through a decontamination tray to prevent the spread of white-nose syndrome (WNS), which is a fungal disease that impacts bats. All shoes, clothes, or gear worn in Jewel Cave may not be allowed in any other caves or mines. This includes private caves and mines within South Dakota and around the world.

Explore the famous Custer State Park Wildlife Loop in an open-air jeep with a Custer State Park guide. A 1.5 - 2 hour private, guided adventure deep into the park to see free-roaming bison, pronghorn, elk, deer, the truly adorable prairie dogs, and begging burros. A much more intimate experience than one can do on their own, with exclusive use of private trails, and guides not only locating the wildlife but also imparting historical and educational facts.

Duration: 2 hours
Distance: 2/3 mile (1 kilometer)
Total stairs: 424
Difficulty: Strenuous; stairs and trail can be steep, slippery and dimly lit. Bending and stooping are required.
Description: Explore the unique geology and boxwork formations of the Blue Grotto route while learning about some of the colorful characters and events in Wind Cave’s past.

Experience the cave by candlelight the way the earliest explorers of Wind Cave saw it! This tour takes place in a less developed, unlit section of the cave. Each participant must carry a candle bucket while navigating paved and natural cave surfaces, some large steps, tight passages, slick footing, and numerous stairs. The tour is limited to 10 people and the minimum age is 8.

Wild Cave and Candlelight tour cannot be done on the same day.
Required 

• Long pants to protect the cave resource and yourself.  Leggings must fully cover the legs from the waist to the shoes. Pants must not have any holes in them.
• Sturdy, lace-up hiking boots or shoes (designed for trail) with aggressive tread are required. No slick-soled footwear is permitted. Tennis shoes, five-fingered toe shoes, sandals, cowboy boots, and climbing shoes of any kind are not allowed.  You will not be allowed to participate in the tour if your are not wearing proper footwear.
• Clothing worn in Jewel Cave or any other cave is not permitted on this tour to prevent the spread of White-Nose Syndrome.
• For safety reasons, photography is not permitted on this tour and cameras and phones are not allowed.

Opened in 2022, the Custer State Park Bison Center has quickly become a must-see destination for visitors of all ages. This facility tells the full story of the park’s iconic bison herd through a broad array of engaging, interpretive, and hands-on displays. In addition to the indoor exhibits, ranger-led bison corral tours provide an invaluable up-close look at herd management and the ranching infrastructure that supports it. On these guided tours, staff explain the layout and function of holding pens, sorting chutes, and other handling facilities, show how feeding and water systems are organized, and discuss the practical aspects of population and range management. The tours are designed to demystify the day-to-day operations involved in maintaining a healthy, sustainable herd and to answer visitor questions about animal care, seasonal movements, and park stewardship.