Neutrinos and mining

It was cold last night (into the thirties) and halfway through the night, we woke up cold…the heater had turned off and the camper was forty five, brrrr. Dan did some troubleshooting at 2 am and discovered one of the vents was off so it overheated and shut down. Opened the other vent and viola heat. Spent the next four hours trying to sleep and warm up. Went for a short walk around our campsite this morning, then headed north for a field trip.

We went to the Sanford lab, the deepest underground science laboratory in the US. It goes a mile underground . It is in a former gold mine. Sanford labs is conducting experiments on dark matter and neutrinos in conjunction with the particle accelerator in Chicago - FERMI-Lab. We studied all the information at the visitors center covering mining and particle physics. Next we took a tour to see the machinery driving the shaft elevators that took loads of rocks out of the mine and is now used to take people and equipment in and out of the mine.
After the tour we stopped at a local shop where the owner recommended we drive the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. What an unexpected treat! Driving through the canyon along the creek had spectacular views.
We stopped at a local restaurant for dinner. Made it in time to see Sylvan Lake at dusk then headed to Needles Highway. Probably not the best drive in the dusk and dark, hair pin turns and one lane tunnels made for a white knuckle drive.Read more