Return to the Black Hills of South Dakota

 In late June, I put the kids on a plane to Massachusetts to spend two weeks with cousins. Then I headed to a different plane and went to Rapid City, South Dakota, to spend a week in the Black Hills. The occasion was the 200th mile Reunion for Jewel Cave.

Jewel Cave was my first National Park Service job, after my sophomore year of college. It changed my life, making me want to continue a career with the NPS and continue caving.

I got to the cave in time for a special tour led by Rene Ohms, one of the explorers who has discovered an incredible amount of cave.

During the tour, I was reminded how beautiful a cave it is. It had been 23 years since I had last been in--way too long!


I also admired the in-cave telephones--something we'd like to get for Lehman Caves.

The next day I went to Custer High School, where there a bunch of activities. In one room was the map of Jewel Cave. It's huge! There were also some stats on the wall, and I saw that I had been through a tiny passage called the Miseries three times. I had only remembered two, so I guess it's true I really do forget the parts of caves that are not so pretty.

Speaking of tiny passages, the Pahasapa Grotto had a squeeze box for anyone who wanted to see just how tiny a passage they wanted to squeeze through. This brought back memories of my bruised sternum for doing such a thing in Texas in February. Wow, we cavers sure know how to have a good time, ha!

The talks were great. I didn't get any photos of talks on Saturday, but on Sunday morning I did get a photo of Five Jewel Cave greats who were up on stage: Rene Ohms, Mike Wiles, Dwight Deal,  Jan Conn, and Art Palmer.

The reunion ended at noon, and afterwards I joined some folks for rock climbing. I got on the rock briefly, but then a huge thunderstorm rolled in.

After a delicious group-cooked homemade meal, we looked through some old papers. I loved the scale and north arrow on one of the Conn's maps.

I had a few extra days to spend--the kids were happy with cousins, my husband was taking care of the animals, and my plane ticket was the same cost no matter how long I stayed. So I went on a 20-mile run through the Black Elk Wilderness.

Near the end I went up Harney (Black Elk) Peak. I had been up it several times during the two seasons I worked at Jewel Cave.

On my last full day, I wanted to see some old sights. I took a quick peek at Wall Drug with the awesome Jackalope.

And then I went to Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.  This is right off the Interstate and commemorates the 1,000+ missile silos located across the Great Plains ready to be launched during the Cold War. Several hundred still exist. Oh, my. I started my trip at Delta 09, and luckily arrived when a volunteer was doing a program and so got to ask lots of questions.

They've taken the nuclear warhead off, but the missile still stands in the silo. 

Next I went to Delta-01, but I hadn't reserved a ticket weeks in advance to look at the Launch Control Facility. Tours are limited to just six people at a time. A reason to return!

Finally I went to the Visitor Center (all three sites are at different Interstate exits). It was quite crowded. The exhibits were fascinating. There were also some tongue-in-cheek, which I appreciated. 

I needed time to digest some of that content, so I headed south, through a tiny part of Badlands, then through the National Grasslands. Everywhere I was seeing fields of yellow, which turned out to be sweet yellow clover, a non-native.

I did a quick stop at Wind Cave, but the elevators were broken so I couldn't go in. But I could see the prairie dogs.

That night a new acquaintance was playing at the Custer Beacon. Before he went on, a ukulele band played. 

My last day I went on the Little Devil's Tower hike in Custer State Park. It was great!

I also went on the Needles Highway and watched while this full-size tour bus took over half an hour to go through this narrow tunnel. The people waiting on both sides were not happy.

It was great reconnecting with old friends, making new ones, and revisiting sites that I had faded memories of. I hope to be back again soon, to help with some cave exploration and also in 2022 for the NSS Convention. Woohoo--the kids will get to go on that trip too, and I look forward to showing them this amazing place.