Jewel Cave National Monument is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in Custer County. Caves, hiking trails and historic sites offer different perspectives on the region, from underground dimensions to landscapes of prairie, forest and granite.
Caves and Landscapes
Wind Cave National Park is home to the third-longest cave system in the United States and the seventh-longest in the world. The park also has more than 30 miles of trails running through mixed-grass prairie and ponderosa pine forest. These represent two different scales: the dimensions of a cave system and a trail network that passes through various landscape types.
At Jewel Cave, the 3.5-mile Canyons Trail passes through Lithograph and Hell Canyons. This specific route, with its two named canyons, offers a different focus from the total length of the trails in Wind Cave National Park.
The Needles Highway also passes through striking landscapes: through ponderosa pine and Black Hills spruce forests, across meadows lined with birch and aspen, and through rugged granite mountains. Forests, meadows and granite give the drive a range of scenic highlights.
The French Creek Natural Area covers about 2,200 acres around the French Creek gorge. While hiking, you follow the stream on unmarked or existing trails and cross it several times. The stream, the trail and the repeated crossings are specific features of the route.
Custer State Park covers 71,000 acres in the Black Hills. Activities offered there include camping, hiking, biking, swimming and fishing. The Wildlife Loop Road passes through prairie and hills covered in ponderosa pines, where many of the wildlife species found in Custer State Park live. Alongside the park’s range of activities, its landscapes and wildlife are also highlights in their own right.
Trails with Different Distances
The George S. Mickelson Trail is 109 miles long and has 15 trailheads between Edgemont and Deadwood. In Custer, the Harbach Park trailhead is at mile marker 44.5. The total length and the number of trailheads provide two different points of reference when exploring the trail.
A hike measured on a different scale is the Crazy Horse Volksmarch: it leads through wooded areas to the Crazy Horse Mountain Carving and is set up as a 5- or 10-kilometer route. Here, the focus is on choosing between two specific distances, whereas the Mickelson Trail is defined by the length of the full route and its trailheads.
Memorials and History
The Crazy Horse Memorial features a monumental depiction of a Lakota leader. The Indian Museum of North America houses an extensive collection of artworks and artifacts reflecting the diverse stories and cultures of Indigenous peoples in the United States. The memorial and the museum collection offer different cultural perspectives.
The 1881 Courthouse Museum is housed in the original courthouse of the Dakota Territory. It preserves and presents the history of Custer County and covers the history of the Black Hills and Dakota Territory from 1874 to the present. A visit to the museum thus connects county history with a broader historical period and setting.
A Culinary Discovery
The Laughing Water Restaurant serves homemade Indian fry bread topped with taco meat, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, salsa and sour cream. These ingredients make the dish easy to picture; individual offerings may change.
Discover more destinations: Custer, Hermosa, Lyman County, Clark County, Jones County, Shannon County, Pennington, Edmunds
For the overview of the wider region: South Dakota.
