Jewel Cave

Jewel Cave National Monument is the 2nd largest Cave system in the USA and 5th worldwide.  Mammoth Cave (which we did earlier this year) is the largest in the world.

The greatest expanse of this Cave system has yet to be explored.  It is possible that this cave could be 10 times larger once completely explored....2000+ miles is the estimate!

It gets its name from the overwhelming amount of  calcite crystals in the Cave system. They look like the crystals in Superman's Den (Superman Movie)

I've done tours in 4 different cave systems, and I find it interesting how different they all are.

Here, the jewels were pretty, but the drape formations (looked like drapes or curtains) caught my attention more.

This was a relatively short tour...1 Hour 20 minutes, with about 10 stops to highlight the different formations. 

The Ranger talk (Ranger from New Jersey) was good and humorous.Leia mais