We got to sleep in a little this morning (7:30 a.m.) and the rest of the breakfast group and I made scrambled eggs for breakfast, then headed off to the Wind cave. Our tour guide was Rod and we started with an above ground tour, then after lunch we headed into the caverns.... But not before what seemed like hours of personal stories and information about Rod's 15 years at Wind Cave. Don't get me wrong, it was all very interesting, its just that we stopped every ten yards on the way to the cave and I was anxious to go inside. Of course there were even more stories told in the elevator and at the cave entrance. Aside from the 53 degrees temperature which kept me very comfortable, my feet were hurting before we had even gone 20 feet (or 4 stories) inside the cave. The cave features were super cool, and very different from my last cave experience in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.
The most prominent feature is called box work (left), a crosshatch pattern of minerals. Rod was quite the character, and I loved his enthusiasm and passion for his job. I could tell he really took a liking to our group, and met our questions with energetic answers.
I saw no cave creatures, very few insects, and only one bat, but the cave came to life with the stories of 16 year old Alvin Mcdonald, who explored the cave in the late 1800's, and unfortunately died of typhoid fever at age 20.
When we got done with our tour, we were allowed about 20 minutes with wifi to update our blogs, and I posted my first three. Then we rushed off to make it to the mammoth excavation site before it closed
This place is super interesting, and happens to be the most successful paleontology site in the US. It's an in situ mammoth graveyard, meaning the bones that are dug up are left where they are found, and the building was built around the site. The mammoths were trapped in a sinkhole from a collapsing karst (cave type) formation which filled with water and became tempting for all animals. Once in the sinkhole, the slippery steep walls made it nearly impossible to get out, and the creatures (especially young male mammoths) sunk and lay still in the sinkhole turned graveyard. Our guide here was also impressed with our questions, and answered them with enthusiasm. Of course, we also had to have a little fun at the mammoth site.
On the trek back in the van we all realized how exhausted we were, however we ran into bison blocking the road which was super interesting for us.
Get out of the way, we're hungry!!
But my favorite part of the day came when we turned the corner on the winding mountain road and stumbled upon one of God's greatest gifts.
What a glorious sunset! We pulled off to the side of the road and ran through the woods untill Phoebe and Elly found this amazing cliff rock to watch the sunset. We were all busy trying to capture it on our various devices when Kelsey said something very insightful to me. She echoed my thoughts and commented on how we are always so busy trying to capture something on camera that we often forgetto enjoy it in person. I totally agreed, and we placed our cameras down to enjoy the now instead of the later on film. Unfortunately, we got back late and started dinner around 9pm, but the chili and potatoes meal was more than satifisfying. I fell asleep to the sound of light rain hitting the top of the tent.
Can you spot Tim's legs peeking out behind the towels on the clothes line?
Selfie in the elevator with Rod, our tour guide.
We mean business.
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