More from South Dakota
Trip Start
Jul 07, 2007
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12
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Trip End
Jul 29, 2007
Keystone,
South Dakota,
United States
Saturday, July 28, 2007
This is the first national park created specifically for the protection of a cave system. It is currently the fourth longest cave system in the United States. I say currently because it is not fully explored yet. Every year a new expedition adds on several miles as they are explored. It is unique in several ways compared to other cave systems in the U.S.. There are very few, if any, stalagmites or stalagtites since there is virtually no water seeping down from the surface or weeping from the rock. It does, however, have something called "boxwork" that is very unique. These are sedimentary deposit formations from before the cave was created by flowing water washing away the softest rock
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. Now. don't quote me on this because I wasn't taking notes, but I believe these parts didn't wash away because they had a different mineral make-up and became 'calcite'??? Something like that. Anyway, their formations were stronger than the surrounding material and therefore they stayed. These formations, which sort of look like corrugation, did not 'grow' after the cave was formed, but preceded the formation of the cave. We got a bit of a late/lazy start this morning as we weren't 'under the gun' to get a lot accomplished, which was fortunate considering the route we took. We were just going by one of the maps that is handed out at any establishment in the neighborhood which covers most of the tourist sites and destinations. The problem with these maps, it turns out, is that they are a bit simplistic and therefore not very accurate. We took what looked like the quickest way from our hotel area to the area we wanted to visit, but the little 'tourist' map did not represent the reality of the route. This means we ended up on a road that meandered through the mountains with two lanes and many, many switchbacks and hairpin turns and a new engineering feat of roadbuilding we had never seen before and we called it the 'corkscrew'. I really have never seen this method of constructing a road to go up a mountain side. Picture being on a corkscrew as your road and you'll maybe understand
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. Sometimes we went up only one and a half turns, 360 degrees plus, but I swear there was one that made at least another turn. This was an altogether hairy situation, what with the amount of traffic before and behind us.We got back from this adventure after having a late lunch/ early dinner, and went swimming in the hotel pool. Elaine and I ushered the kiddos into bed early so that we could go out, just the two of us, with Elaine's parents in their room next to ours with a connecting door. They had agreed to 'babysit' for us and we got the kids processed and into bed before turning the lights out and arranging the connecting doors so that the kids could be monitored. Elaine and I went into 'downtown Keystone' to take some pictures and do some shopping. We found quite a few 'junk shops' where all manner of stuff is purveyed to tourists like us. In one of these shops we found a cute little wooden box that was made for the tooth fairy to leave money in exchange for the tooth you put into it, and it just happened that Samuel had lost another tooth just this evening, so right now, that new little box is under his pillow.
Tomorrow is shaping up to be a major driving day. Our next (and last) destination of this trip, except home, of course, is Denver, Colorado where we will spend two nights and fly home from there to Nashville, via Charlotte, NC
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. on Sunday. I don't think I've ever been to Denver, except maybe as a small child, and I'm really looking forward to it. I am not, however, looking forward to all that driving. I'll go now and put up a few pictures from today. I didn't take many today, and some of those from the cave tour didn't come out very well, but hey, just that many less for you to have to look at, right?
Once again, thank you for keeping up with these little stories and thank you for your comments here and in the private emails you send to us. We love love love hearing from YOU.
G'nite all,
Quinn
