Boredom Becomes Motivation
I am in LOVE... with Wind Cave National Park!!!
I've hit a point where sitting at my house every night after work and doing nothing on my weekends is just getting old; I've hit a point of pure boredom.
The last couple of days at work has been incredibly slow with the only people coming to visit the monument in the past 4 days were folks just passing through and wanting to use the restrooms. I've occupied my time at work by creating a wildflower database for the monument.
As bored as I may be though I did get out and about on Monday afternoon and spent my day at Wind Cave National Park. I left at 11:30 am from my home in Custer, hoping that I would make it out to Wind Cave by 1 pm so I could catch the cave tour. I wanted to be on the tour at 1pm hoping it would be the busiest of the three tours offered so that there would be more people than just myself.
I've hit a point where sitting at my house every night after work and doing nothing on my weekends is just getting old; I've hit a point of pure boredom. The last couple of days at work has been incredibly slow with the only people coming to visit the monument in the past 4 days were folks just passing through and wanting to use the restrooms. I've occupied my time at work by creating a wildflower database for the monument.
As bored as I may be though I did get out and about on Monday afternoon and spent my day at Wind Cave National Park. I left at 11:30 am from my home in Custer, hoping that I would make it out to Wind Cave by 1 pm so I could catch the cave tour. I wanted to be on the tour at 1pm hoping it would be the busiest of the three tours offered so that there would be more people than just myself.
Well I headed out the door and found myself getting to Wind Cave at around noon. It's apparently only 20 minutes away from Custer and 65 mph the whole way. As I arrived in the park I pulled off at the first roadside exhibit. There was an interpretive sign there explaining the key role of Prairie Dogs at Wind Cave.As a side tangent...
Did you know that Prairie Dogs are a keystone species, meaning that their presence on the Prairie is vital for other species to thrive? By them burrowing holes they create habitat for other animals like burrowing owls, rattlesnakes, and others. I know people often view them as a nuisance and in the state I am from, Montana, they shoot them, but like I said they really are essential to ecosystems. Yes, they do carry the black plague which is an unfortunate thing, but I hope that next time you see one you think twice about its existence. What was truly fascinating about these particular critters was both how damn cute they are and how big they are. As I was taking pictures of these giant fur balls I thought they were large cats running across the field, I tell no lie they were really that big! Not only that they are loud little buggers, they peep like crazy... I was fortunate to get some great footage of the Prairie dogs, which I will try to post soon.
Tangent aside, after checking out the cute fur balls I turned to the park's information radio station and heard the funniest Public Service Announcement. It was a PSA in relation to feeding the animals in the park and how it was illegal. The thing that made it comical was the context of the PSA. It tried making the point that it's bad to feed animals in the park and began with two rangers in dialogue saying something similar to this:
"Hey, did you see that family feeding the Prairie dogs?"
"Yeah, don't they know it's bad for them?"
"Why is it so bad?"
"Well, if you feed the Prairie dogs their bodies can't digest the food properly and not only that if they are use to food near the roads, they are more apt to getting hit and killed on the roadside. Plus it is illegal."
"That's right, and the ticket is anywhere from $50 to $10,000 and $50 can fill your car with gas."
"Yeah, and $10,000 can buy you a new car."
Then you hear a police siren.
"I bet that's the last time they feed the Prairie dogs!"
I also recorded that and will have to someday post it.
After all that fun, I pulled into the visitor center parking lot, with a nervous butterfly feeling in my stomach. I gathered my National Parks Passport and money and went forth to the park’s visitor center. When I first step foot inside, I admit, the Visitor Center looked a little drab with not much there. I went over to the ticket counter and asked the gal at the desk to purchase a cave tour ticket for the 1 pm cave tour. As she was setting me up with a ticket I realized that this particular person was someone I had heard about and was told to tell hello to from a former ranger and friend of mine. I told her the situation and we then got to talking. She was such an incredibly nice person. She then helped work with me on a project she had so graciously taking her personal time to look over for me. We spent about 15 minutes reviewing it, when out of the office door I saw a familiar face. It was my friend from Yellowstone National Park, Matthew Chuvarsky, who in the summer was a law enforcement ranger in the same district I worked in; a great person and one of the best LE Rangers around (truthfully though they were all amazing this year).
Well as it got closer to 1 pm it seemed as if no one else was going to show and that was exactly the case. I was the only one there for that particular tour and went forth.
Matthew graciously really emphasized on the geological features of the cave which I truly enjoyed. He started by taking us to the display area downstairs and showing me the map of Wind Cave. He made many comparisons and contrasts between Wind and Jewel, not in a bias manner but strictly a scientific manner. He noted that Wind Cave was not as large but was much more complex with more passageways leading off to many different directions. He then showed a picture of one of the early explorers in the cave, Alvin McDonald (who truly is an interesting person when you get to read more about him.) Next we journeyed onward to the elevator shafts where it would take us down through hundreds of feet of rock and down into the depths of Wind Cave. I was incredibly excited...
When we reached the door to the interior of the cave, the wind was blowing so hard that it was very difficult to open. As I entered inside I was amazed! It is one of the coolest caves I have ever seen. Truly remarkable! I fell in love right then and there with that cave. It’s not what you expect a cave to look like and that was the most fascinating aspect of it. Plus it was much more up close and personal with the cave features than in Jewel Cave.
Matthew then unlocked all the hidden secrets of the cave by once again emphasizing heavily on the geology. He showed me fossils, dendrites, explained in great details about the importance of Paleo-fill, and highlighted geological wonders such as frostwork and boxwork. I have a whole new level of appreciation for rare and delicate cave formations, boxwork in truly an amazing cave formation! As my fellow geology students would always say as we were in Moab, it was so amazing it was like having a "geo-gasm."
Overall it was a remarkable experience with a wonderful tour guide. Matthew was super enthusiastic and really knew his stuff. I do not say this as a bias friend but it was by far one of the best tours I had ever been on. I was happy with all the new information I had learned from him, because I am now able to take that information and use it on my own tours at Jewel Cave.
After the tour I went downstairs to the exhibit room and looked around, and then proceeded outside to where the natural entrance is.
Tangent aside, after checking out the cute fur balls I turned to the park's information radio station and heard the funniest Public Service Announcement. It was a PSA in relation to feeding the animals in the park and how it was illegal. The thing that made it comical was the context of the PSA. It tried making the point that it's bad to feed animals in the park and began with two rangers in dialogue saying something similar to this: "Hey, did you see that family feeding the Prairie dogs?"
"Yeah, don't they know it's bad for them?"
"Why is it so bad?"
"Well, if you feed the Prairie dogs their bodies can't digest the food properly and not only that if they are use to food near the roads, they are more apt to getting hit and killed on the roadside. Plus it is illegal."
"That's right, and the ticket is anywhere from $50 to $10,000 and $50 can fill your car with gas."
"Yeah, and $10,000 can buy you a new car."
Then you hear a police siren.
"I bet that's the last time they feed the Prairie dogs!"
I also recorded that and will have to someday post it.
After all that fun, I pulled into the visitor center parking lot, with a nervous butterfly feeling in my stomach. I gathered my National Parks Passport and money and went forth to the park’s visitor center. When I first step foot inside, I admit, the Visitor Center looked a little drab with not much there. I went over to the ticket counter and asked the gal at the desk to purchase a cave tour ticket for the 1 pm cave tour. As she was setting me up with a ticket I realized that this particular person was someone I had heard about and was told to tell hello to from a former ranger and friend of mine. I told her the situation and we then got to talking. She was such an incredibly nice person. She then helped work with me on a project she had so graciously taking her personal time to look over for me. We spent about 15 minutes reviewing it, when out of the office door I saw a familiar face. It was my friend from Yellowstone National Park, Matthew Chuvarsky, who in the summer was a law enforcement ranger in the same district I worked in; a great person and one of the best LE Rangers around (truthfully though they were all amazing this year). Well as it got closer to 1 pm it seemed as if no one else was going to show and that was exactly the case. I was the only one there for that particular tour and went forth.
Matthew graciously really emphasized on the geological features of the cave which I truly enjoyed. He started by taking us to the display area downstairs and showing me the map of Wind Cave. He made many comparisons and contrasts between Wind and Jewel, not in a bias manner but strictly a scientific manner. He noted that Wind Cave was not as large but was much more complex with more passageways leading off to many different directions. He then showed a picture of one of the early explorers in the cave, Alvin McDonald (who truly is an interesting person when you get to read more about him.) Next we journeyed onward to the elevator shafts where it would take us down through hundreds of feet of rock and down into the depths of Wind Cave. I was incredibly excited... When we reached the door to the interior of the cave, the wind was blowing so hard that it was very difficult to open. As I entered inside I was amazed! It is one of the coolest caves I have ever seen. Truly remarkable! I fell in love right then and there with that cave. It’s not what you expect a cave to look like and that was the most fascinating aspect of it. Plus it was much more up close and personal with the cave features than in Jewel Cave.
Matthew then unlocked all the hidden secrets of the cave by once again emphasizing heavily on the geology. He showed me fossils, dendrites, explained in great details about the importance of Paleo-fill, and highlighted geological wonders such as frostwork and boxwork. I have a whole new level of appreciation for rare and delicate cave formations, boxwork in truly an amazing cave formation! As my fellow geology students would always say as we were in Moab, it was so amazing it was like having a "geo-gasm." Overall it was a remarkable experience with a wonderful tour guide. Matthew was super enthusiastic and really knew his stuff. I do not say this as a bias friend but it was by far one of the best tours I had ever been on. I was happy with all the new information I had learned from him, because I am now able to take that information and use it on my own tours at Jewel Cave.
After the tour I went downstairs to the exhibit room and looked around, and then proceeded outside to where the natural entrance is.
Halfway down the Natural Entrance trail I could feel the breeze coming through the natural opening. It really does make you wonder what those early explorers were thinking when they would just hop down into an unknown hole, and a tiny one at that. As I ventured onward off and up to the right was a stone staircase, I followed it upward and discovered the grave site to Alvin McDonald. He unfortunately died at the age of 20 from typhoid that he contracted from the World's Fair while promoting Wind Cave, this young man loved and dedicated the last couple years of his life to Wind Cave. I felt a little bit more ambitious so I kept following the trail and ended up walking a one mile scenic loop. It was beautiful!That is when I finally sat in awe of the short-grass prairie ecosystem that surronded me. Ripple like waves across the prairie grasses making it look like a majestic sea. I'm sure I am now in love with the prairie and don't know if I ever venture back to the mountains. I always told myself I would never leave the mountains but my heart is being tugged towards this remarkable scenery. "Oh give me a home where the BISON all roam, where the deer and the PRONGHORN all play..."
Comments
Post a Comment