West Quest Part Deux - Day 21

Tours of Jewel Cave, Custer State Park and fictional Fort Hays

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Tuesday, 30 August 2022

Today was a very special day here in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We were blessed to spend most of the day with a wonderful new friend, Russ Bakken. A retired U.S. Army major and professional tour guide with Affordable Adventures, Russ joins a long and amazing line of great folks the Lord has placed in our lives while on this magnificent tour of our nation. We were introduced to Russ by an earlier new friend we met in Sioux Falls. The amazing new people we keep meeting are like a gift that keeps on giving. Such a blessing!

It was Russ’ day off, so our tour today was in his personal truck and done out of his kindness and generosity. He picked us up at 9 am and off we went to Jewel Cave National Monument.

Russ did not do the tour with us due to knee troubles, but he kindly waited for us as we took a two-hour professionally guided tour. A crown jewel of the National Park Service, the half-mile, 750+ step tour was simply astounding. The following pictures will not do it justice but here goes:

A few years ago, the Park Service installed a new 400’ elevator that takes tours directly to a large chamber over 300’ below the surface. It’s remarkable to go from the surface where it was in the 80s down to a cave where it’s a steady 49 deg year round in just seconds.

A 30’ piece of “cave bacon”

The ceiling in one of the chambers.

God truly has a sense of humor. Here’s a map of the United States (albeit missing Washington and Oregon) created eons ago.

Overall, a spectacular experience that is not to be missed if you are in the Rapid City / Black Hills area of South Dakota.

Next we headed to Custer State Park, the crown jewel of the South Dakota Park System. Again, pictures don’t do it justice, but here goes:

Did you know that the Black Hills are named for the way the pine trees in the distance cause the hills to look black?

As we drove home from the park, we passed by the back side of Mount Rushmore:

Back in Rapid City, we had mentioned to Russ that while we were in the Badlands, Frieda and I watched the movie Dances with Wolves just as we had watched Field of Dreams when we were in Iowa. Knowing that, he took us to a place here where several of the fictional Fort Hays movie props have been relocated and are on display.

Lt Dunbar’s orders to his new post at Camp Sedgwick.

Posters of just a few of the many movies filmed in South Dakota on the wall outside of the commander’s office.

Overall a spectacular day of sightseeing. Thank you Russ!

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