Week 60: The one with all the caves -- and bison!
Jewel Cave National Monument to Wind Cave National Park to Badlands National Park and beyond.
Hey, hello! Welcome back to another weekly update! This week we started heading north as we make our roundabout way over to Ohio to visit family — and what a week it was!
Let’s get right to the recap!
Sunday: Devils Tower, Wyoming to Jewel Cave, South Dakota
Sunday we left camp at Devils Tower National Monument (Bear Lodge), Wyoming and headed off for Jewel Cave National Monument, South Dakota.
Some random facts about Jewel Cave: It is over 220 miles in length and is the second longest cave in the US, right behind Mammoth! More than 55% of the known cave is outside the Monument boundaries, under the Black Hills National Forest.
Full disclaimer: when we got our tickets for the Historic Lantern Cave Tour at Jewel Cave a week prior to our arrival all the other tours were sold out. I was a little bummed — I was sure it was going to be boring.
But it turned out to be one of my favorite cave tours of all time! And that’s saying something! I counted them up, and I’ve been to Seneca Caverns, Mammoth Cave National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, the Caverns of Sonora, Inner Space Caverns and Natural Bridge Caverns.
Why did I like the Historic Lantern Tour so much?
The small group size (only 15!) made it where we could easily see and hear Ranger Conner talk.
We could touch the cave walls and rocks, which was awesome. In fact, you have to touch the walls to get through some tight passages. There were even parts of the cave where we walked on the cave floor — not pavement like in developed parts of the cave.
The “ladder like” stairs were fun to climb up and down.
The narrow passages and having to duck walk in several places also made it feel more like we were really exploring a cave. I felt like a kid!
The temperature was awesome — it was 49 degrees in the cave! It felt so good because it was 87 outside.
Best of all, the battery powered, historic-looking lanterns added a fun touch of nostalgia. There were no other lights in the cave besides the ranger’s flashlight!
So glad we got to do the tour — highly recommend!
Then it was a short drive to…
Sunday: Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota
Wind Cave National Park is like two parks in one: there’s the cave underground of course — but there’s also 33,970 acres of prairie and forest above. The park website says it best:
Wind Cave National Park protects two very different worlds - one deep within the earth, the other a sunlit world of many resources. Bison, elk, and other wildlife roam the rolling prairie grasslands and forested hillsides of one of America's oldest national parks. Below the remnant island of intact prairie sits Wind Cave, one of the longest and most complex caves in the world.
We stopped by the Visitor Center so I could stamp my sketchbook (more on that in a future post) and then set off to explore the landscape.
Prairie Dogs
First we saw several prairie dog towns — the dogs were so fun to watch!
I always feel like they were watching us too! We also spotted a burrowing owl but didn’t get a good photo of it, darn!
A Sea of Grass
The trees soon give way to rolling prairie — a sea of grass. I’m a prairie girl through and through, so it made my heart soar. There’s nothing like the feeling of being out under a big sky with views in all directions. To me it’s like coming home.
We spotted a herd of bison off in the distance and watched them for a while.
The views kept getting better and better. We ate dinner in the van at an overlook and soaked it all in.
A little botanizing revealed some of our favorite prairie plants — like seeing old friends.
Echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia) — also known as purple coneflower — and leadplant (Amorpha canescens) were glowing in the light. Wow.
Further down the road we spotted a lone bison having his dinner. We could hear him chewing and his legs swishing through the grass as he walked.
It was so amazing getting to see this big guy up close! Note: I stayed in the van and zoomed in on the bison for these photos. Always be safe around bison, especially when they are in rut like they are now!
We didn’t get very far when a pronghorn crossed the road right in front of us:
What a great first day at Wind Cave!
Monday: Camp Day
Monday we had a rest day — we really needed it!
Tuesday: Wind Cave: Exploring the Prairie
Tuesday was gonna be a hot one! So we decided to hike the Rankin Ridge Trail since it had a little shade.
We loved the views at the top!
I also spotted a lil prickly pear with some big, pale yellow blooms:
So lovely.
After our hike we holed up in some shade for awhile and I made smoothies for lunch — every single time we have smoothies in the van I’m super grateful — it’s something we couldn’t do when car camping.
The sun moved in on our shady spot so we had to hunt around for another one — luckily we found one! I made sushi for dinner and wondered if we were the only people in the world who had veggie sushi in that spot, ha! I’m guessing yes.
Then we decided to go for a drive to look for bison — and we found some!
So darn beautiful.
We saw more bison as the evening went on — and we got stuck in a bison jam for a bit! Here’s a video of them — make sure you have your sound on so you can hear the males bellowing. They do this during the rut and it’s so impressive.
Note: we stayed safe in the car at all times, of course!
Wednesday: Wind Cave: Garden of Eden Tour
We were super excited to get tickets for the Garden of Eden Tour — not only to see the cave, but to escape the heat — the cave stays 54 degrees year-round and the forecast called for highs in the upper 90s.
We got to see the famous “boxwork”, Wind Cave’s signature formation:
Cave popcorn:
And last but not least, frost: — which sparkles in real life, but is super hard to photo:
The tour was way too short — I could have kept going and going. Guess we’ll have to do another tour next time we’re there.
We took one last drive around the park and we got to see more bison.
I really loved Wind Cave — gonna have to come back someday.
Then it was off to…
Wednesday: Custer State Park, South Dakota
We decided to spend the night at Custer State Park in South Dakota since it was on our way and recommended by several people — thanks so much for the recommendations y’all!
Mount Coolidge Lookout
Our intro to the park was the Mount Coolidge Lookout — just look at this view:
I also loved this sign:
I took a moment to soak in the view and savored every second.
Then it was off to camp. Dark clouds started rolling in we made it to camp just as the storm broke! Whew!
The morning dawned so fresh and clean that we decided to take advantage of the showers over by the lake — we have a shower in the van but it’s always nice to take what I call a “luxury shower”, ha!
Thursday: Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Badlands National Park has been on our bucket list for a long time. Prairie and cool rocks? Sign me up! It was so amazing to see.
Sage Creek Campground
We started our explorations at the White River Visitor Center, then made our way to Sage Creek Campground. This campground is free (!) — and first-come, first-serve. I think it was the first time we camped in a National Park for free.
After dinner we hiked up the hill behind camp and were met with some amazing views:
The light was just right and gave everything a golden glow:
On our way back to camp we spotted these two cuties:
So sweet!
Friday: Badlands National Park, South Dakota
The next morning I went out to our picnic table with breakfast in hand and noticed a bison!
He munched grass while we munched our morning oatmeal. So cool!
Later I took some more pictures of him along with one of my favorite prairie plants, Snow-on-the-Mountain (Euphorbia marginata).
Random botany fact for ya: just like poinsettias and paintbrush, the showy parts of the flower you think of as the “petals” are actually bracts! If you look closely you’ll see small clusters of the real flowers with a yellow/green center and tiny white petals around them.
Friday-Saturday: Badlands National Park, South Dakota
After packing up camp we set off to explore the park. It’s hard to wrap your brain around this amazing place, with all of the cool rocks interspersed with grassland.
There are a number of rock types that can be found in the Badlands. The formations in our park contain sandstones, siltstones, mudstones, claystones, limestones, volcanic ash, and shale. These rock types come from a number of different sources. For example, many of the sandstones found in Badlands are the remnants of ancient river channels. The occasional limestone lenses found in the park come from calcium-rich groundwater flowing through ancient lakes and precipitating out calcium carbonate, otherwise known as limestone.
I took a gazillion photos, but as my friend Steve said, here are a six seven favorites from Friday through Saturday:
Which one is your favorite? I’d love to hear!
Just for the record: it was pretty hot when we were here, with the van temperature hitting a high of 100! Thankfully it cooled off in the evenings. Sunday’s forecast called for 103, so we thought it was time to move on!
Saturday-Sunday: Picnic Spring Campground, Custer Gallatin National Forest, South Dakota
We made our way to Picnic Spring Campground, with stops in Wall to see the famous Wall Drug (it was nuts!) and get some free ice water and Sturgis to get groceries and a shirt for my Dad.
That night a storm came in and it was scary and exhilarating all at the same time. The thunder rolled across the land and echoed in the canyons all around camp. I could feel it in my bones. Whoa!
The next morning we went for a walk and I saw so many prairie wildflowers that I just had to record them in my perpetual journal:
It was so nice having such a peaceful, quiet, relaxing day after everything we did last week. We’ve really missed camping in the forest, where the only sounds you hear are the wind in the pines and the birds. In fact, there’s a nighthawk “meeping” as I type this.
The peaceful feeling carried into Sunday night, when the stars came out and we could even see the Milky Way. I have to learn how to photograph it with my phone, but here’s a van photo with stars before the moon came up.
That’s a Wrap
That’s it for this week! We’ll be heading to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota next, and then start making our way east as we continue on our roundabout journey to Ohio. Can’t wait!
Thanks for following along on our adVANtures — it’s so great to have you along for the ride! — Lisa, Jason and Walter-the-Van
Thanks,Lisa ..... I'll have a friend introduce me to that site. Kathleen
Lisa…. Thanks for this ongoing travel blog. I keep them all in the hopes that I will follow in your footsteps. Two questions come to mind, one of which may have been answered in today’s blog: do you use your cell phone to take photos? They are great. And I’m sure you are sketching everyday. Do you post them elsewhere and can I see them? Thanks, Kathleen