Day 6 began with a trip to Jewel Cave National Monument. Because we were just in Wind Cave a couple of days before, we decided to do a more abbreviated tour of Jewel Cave. Though Simon was a trooper on the last tour, this one was almost 2 hours and had over 750 steps...just too much for little legs! We did want to get in the cave and earn their Junior Ranger Badge, so we went on the 20 minute Discovery Tour. Jewel Cave was so vastly different from Wind Cave. It boasted huge open rooms and different formations such as dogtooth spar and sparkling calcite crystals, which is how it got its name of Jewel Cave.
We spent the rest of the afternoon driving through the Black Hills National Forest, the Needles Highway, and Custer State Park. It was breathtakingly beautiful - the most beautiful part of South Dakota that we saw! There were stone tunnels to drive through and spectacular views around every curve!
We stopped for a picnic lunch at Sylvan Lake. There were many trails all around the lake, but the kids (especially Simon) were really worn out. We climbed on a few rocks near the lake after we were done eating, with the promise to make this a priority stop if we ever come back to the Black Hills.
The Needles Eye Tunnel was so narrow! It was hard to believe we were even going to fit! The rock formations were so stunning. It made me wish we had even more time to enjoy beautiful Custer State Park! Overall, it was a wonderful last day before we started our trip back toward Wisconsin. South Dakota is so beautiful!
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