Jewell Cave National Park

Our last stop for the day was Jewell Cave National Park. This cave system is currently the third largest in the world at 132.87 miles long and counting. They continue to explore the caves and expect it to become the second largest cave system later this summer.

We took a lantern tour of the caves. Descending more than six stories underground with only kerosene lanterns to light the way, we climbed down into the caves the same way the visitors from the 1940’s would have experienced the occasion. While it was a tight squeeze in some places, the highlight was blowing out all of the lamps and sitting in the dark for a few minutes and listening to the park ranger tell the story of the caves exploration. Michelle opted for a shorter, less confining tour of the Jewell Caves and met us at the top when our tour was over.