Our next NPS stop on day two of our trip was Jewel Cave National Monument. In the spirit of this weekend, the caves were closed for emergency service. Construction should be finished in May of 2020. We wanted to get our passport stamp, so we decided to stop anyways.
Address and Location
You’ll find Jewel Cave at 11149 US Highway 16 in Custer, South Dakota. The park sits west of the actual town of Custer along the highway.
Cost
Exploring the Visitors’ Center, trails, and the park grounds are free. You will have to buy tickets to tour the caves. Tours range from $4 to $31 for adults, and kids can join several tours for free. If you want to visit during the summer, definitely consider reserving your tickets ahead of time.
What to do
The big thing at Jewel Cave is touring the caves. Since we couldn’t do that, we did a quick lap through the Visitors’ Center. They have several interesting exhibits about caves and their ecology. The gift shop also offers a nice selection of National Park themed games. From there, we headed outside to stretch our legs. Several of the Jewel Cave trails were also closed for construction. We opted for one of the open nature trails. The park grounds are really quiet, and you’ll enjoy blue skies and great views. Because of the construction, this wound up being a much shorter stop than we had originally planned.
South Dakota National Park Service sites: Minuteman Missile National Historic Site | Badlands National Park | Jewel Cave National Monument | Mount Rushmore National Memorial | Wind Cave National Park | Your guide to the South Dakota National Parks
