Family Nature Summits: Black Hills Summit

Take a field trip around the area to view geologic features associated with the uplift of the Black Hills of South Dakota. You will learn about the regional geology and the importance of pegmatites as we tour. We will see a variety of rock types and geologic structures, and finish our trip at two former mines where you will have the opportunity to collect your own keepsake specimens. We will drive up to most locations. One location has a short walk along level terrain. The former mines are close to the road but will have short walks on uneven, wooded terrain. 

Take a field trip around the area to view geologic features associated with the uplift of the Black Hills of South Dakota. You will learn about the regional geology and the importance of pegmatites as we tour. We will see a variety of rock types and geologic structures, and finish our trip at two former mines where you will have the opportunity to collect your own keepsake specimens. We will drive up to most locations. One location has a short walk along level terrain. The former mines are close to the road but will have short walks on uneven, wooded terrain. 

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.

This will be an opportunity to meet up with others at the end of a day to travel to some former mines in the Custer area to rockhound and collect. You can keep what you find. Quartz, rose quartz, feldspars, mica, and tourmalines are abundant along the surface and in loose dirt. We will park close to the mines, but there is a short walk and uneven, wooded terrain. Bring something to carry your select specimens. Open to all ages. 

Take a field trip around the area to view geologic features associated with the uplift of the Black Hills of South Dakota. You will learn about the regional geology and the importance of pegmatites as we tour. We will see a variety of rock types and geologic structures, and finish our trip at two former mines where you will have the opportunity to collect your own keepsake specimens. We will drive up to most locations. One location has a short walk along level terrain. The former mines are close to the road but will have short walks on uneven, wooded terrain.