On the advice of the proprietress of our cabin home, we headed to Jewel Cave this morning. It is purported to be the second largest underground cave in the world; and it was only thirteen miles away.
I’d been to an underground cave only once before, in seventh grade in St. Louis when my class visited Meramec Caverns in Stanton, MO. What I remember is that the caves were easily accessed and that the stalactites and stalagmites were amazing. I thought Jewel Cave, with its reputation, would be even more amazing.
It was not quite so. Jewel Cave is interesting in its own right, descending to much greater depth than Meramec Caverns and including many walkways through caves and tunnels. But as far as sheer beauty, it doesn’t compete with Meramec at all, at least as far as my seventh grade memories recall.
In addition, there were 723 steps involved both up and down the various caves with slippery causeways in-between. Earl and I weren’t as impressed as we were with Yellowstone or Little Bighorn, and we’ve decided that a career as spelunkers (those who love searching about in cave) is not for us.
Still, we’re glad we visited Jewel Cave, and we crossed future cave visits off our bucket list.
Leave a Reply