Caves to explore in South Dakota???

[OurJayco]

My wife and I are going to the Black Hills of South Dakota at the end of July and we have 5 days to go site seeing and simply visit the area. We recently received a brochure about some of the caves they have and their history. We are considering the "Crystal Caves Tour".

Has anyone here visited any of the caves?
Which one(s) did you visit?
Which one did you like?
Are they really worth the time and money?

My wife and I are both 46 years old, so walking/hiking is not an issue.
We are traveling with another couple that will have their 10 year old daughter. She may not want to spend a few hours in caves and get bored real quick. So my other question is, have you toured the caves with children and how did they like it?

Thank you for any information you can provide.

[f00d30]

Hi Daryl and Sandy,

We were in the Black Hills area many years ago (I think it was the 80's). We toured one cave, the name escapes me at the moment, but it is the national monument. There are several in the area that are privately run, but we passed on those. We had our children with us and one of our daughters got scared and Doug had to bring her out. They also turn off the lights at one point, and it is REALLY dark. We enjoyed the tour and thought it was worth the money. It's a beautiful area and we would like to return one day. Don't miss Custer State Park!

Doug and Cheri
P.S> I think the name of the cave was Jewel Cave. There were lots of steps, but they were very managable.

[OurJayco]

Thanks Doug and Cheri!

Jewel Cave was one of the brochures that we received. We really have not our minds on one or the other yet. We are going to wait and see what others might say while we are out there. I thank you for your input and information.
Once we are back from our trip, I will let you know if we went on one of the tours and what we thought about it.
Thank You again!!

[f00d30]

Hi Daryl and Sandy,

After reading your post again, I realized that I really didn't answer your questions about the kids very well. Ours 3 were about 10, 6 and 7 if I remember correctly. It was the 7 year old that freaked out. It seemed to be the see-through grates that made up the walk ways that bothered her. Doug came out with her and the other two seemed to enjoy the tour. I think it was 1 1/2 to 2 hours long. As I said before, we felt it was well worth the money.

Enjoy your trip and let us know how it goes!

Doug and Cheri