Day 4: Saturday: Black Hills

Under Canvas Mount Rushmore

By Saturday morning we were very tired of Under Canvas. After only two nights.

I booked three nights, expecting that we would enjoy the experience quite a bit more. But after two nights we wished we wouldn’t be returning that night for a third.

The bathrooms were poorly maintained, the tents were crowded together, and the kid’s tent was too cold for our son to sleep in comfortably.

We had an early morning cave tour to make and, after getting showered and dressed, we were on our way to Jewel Cave.

Custer

I mentioned in the prior post that we really liked Miner’s Cup. We again ordered three breakfast burritos and coffees, this time parking outside instead of waiting in the drive-thru.

And again the burritos were a great breakfast to get us energized for the morning.

Jewel Cave National Monument

There aren’t many places where you can tour two of the world’s longest and most interesting caves in successive days without leaving the same general area. But the Black Hills are one such place. The prior day we visited Wind Cave, and this morning we were visiting Jewel Cave.

We had visited Jewel Cave in 2013 (when Evan was a 6-month-old baby) but could only visit a single cave room on a tour that was limited to an elevator ride down and back up. With Evan now a 13-year-old, we could do the one-and-a-half hour scenic tour and truly explore the cave.

The drive to Jewel Cave took us westward, to a higher elevation location where the air was cooler than anywhere we had previously been in the Black Hills. Likewise we passed through an area of forest that had been badly burned in 2013. In 2026 the forest was in full recovery.

We entered the visitor center and after encountering a rather rude ranger that was gatekeeping the line to the tour, we were able to start the 9:40 tour.

The features of Jewel Cave were very different from Wind Cave. There is boxwork in Jewel Cave, but far less than Wind Cave. Jewel Cave however is full of calcyte that make the walls appear to be almost covered in bumpy, calcyte crystals.

Additionally, Jewel Cave is a wetter environment than Wind Cave and that allows speleothems to form. These are the stalactites, stalagmites, columns, soda straws, and draperies. And our favorite: cave bacon.

To say that cave bacon looks like a giant slice of actual bacon is an understatement.

Jewel Cave gave us the impression of almost being in an undersea world. The walls of the cave resembled coral and the oozing stalactites often resembled weird starfish.

In the end we really enjoyed having toured both caves and experiencing the contrasts between them.

But here is a question posed by both tours. Since the caves are so extensive and have so many passages left to be discovered, could they merge somewhere deep underground and form a single cave that is the longest in the world?

The ranger at Wind Cave said she doesn’t think it is possible and the entire cave system at Wind Cave is concentrated in a relatively small area. At Jewel Cave, however, they don’t outright dismiss the possibility.

Custer

After touring Jewel Cave we had only just over an hour to get lunch and drive to Hill City for our E-Bike rentals. I considered stopping at a sit-down hamburger restaurant in Custer as we passed through, but to avoid any unnecessary delays we just had drive-thru hamburgers from Dairy Queen.

We would eat better later.

Hill City

I read about the Mickelson Bike Trail while I was planning the trip and decided that it would be fun for the three of us to rent E-Bikes for several hours of riding on the trail.

I just had to decide which section of the trail would be the most fun, and where we could rent bikes for the right amount of time and a decent price.

I read that the portion of the trail between Hill City and Deadwood was the most scenic as it traveled through mountain wilderness and through rail tunnels. The Mickelson Trail was built along the path of former train tracks from the mining days.

I eventually decided to start in Hill City and journey north, and to rent from Bicycles and Boats. I highly recommend them for several reasons. 1) They great bikes and good prices 2) They give you storage bags and a toolkit 3) They are right long the trail path in Hill City and have parking right at their business 4) They are very helpful and give you maps, directions, and suggestions.

The weather looked like it might rain, but the skies held back for us. We had a lot of fun and went to the first rail tunnel (about 12 miles from Hill City) before deciding we better start back and not get rained on.

I highly recommend taking a day to rent bikes (E-Bikes do help with the inclines but any non-motorized bike will do) and enjoy the Mickelson Trail.

After the ride it was still a bit early for dinner, but we were pretty sure we wanted to go to Rapid City for our favorite brew pub. Along the way we debated how to burn a little time. Eventually we pulled over at the epitome of a kitschy tourist attraction.

Rapid City

Bear Country U.S.A.

We love zoos. We also love wildlife and animals in general. Bear Country U.S.A., however, is one of those places that we usually wouldn’t go to. We don’t like places that kind of straddle the line between rescuing and protecting wildlife, and exploiting it.

But we were in the Rapid City outskirts and needed to kill about an hour of time. So…why not.

On the drive through the park we saw lots and lots of bears, and bighorns, and wolves, and more. More bears than I ever think I’ll see again in one place, in fact.

After the wildlife tour we stopped at the outdoor section and saw the bear cubs and timber wolves, and porcupines. It was cute, but I don’t think we’d do it again.

The animals did appear healthy and happy overall, though.

Fire House Brewing Company

We’ve been to brew pubs all over the US, and even outside the US. But the very best, in my opinion, is in Rapid City, South Dakota.

We always have a great time dining at Fire House Brewing Company. The food is great, the beer is great, the atmosphere is top notch. The wait staff is top notch.

We’ve been there three times (2013, 2020, and 2026) and every time it’s been great.

We’ll be back again. Heck we even told the waitress about our future glamping resort and she said she’d be watching for it to open and hopes to visit it.

After dinner, it was time to go back to the other glamping place for one more night. Then onto the next set of destinations.