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[RevolutionaryDorf]

Last week, my family and I went on our final summer road-trip before I head off to college in August. Following our tradition, we decided to once again visit the beautiful land of South Dakota!



South Dakota is a mid-western state in the U.S., known for its wild-west imagery, beautiful landscapes, and absurd number of giant megaprojects. (the designer of Crazy Horse monument himself may perhaps be the dwarfiest man alive).

South Dakota is also dwarfy in another, more hidden way. It is home to some of the most impressive caves in the world.

Wind Cave National Park is a United States national park 10 miles (16 km) north of the town of Hot Springs in western South Dakota. Established in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it was the seventh U.S. National Park and the first cave to be designated a national park anywhere in the world. The cave is notable for its displays of the calcite formation known as boxwork. Approximately 95 percent of the world's discovered boxwork formations are found in Wind Cave. Wind Cave is also known for its frostwork. The cave is also considered a three-dimensional maze cave, recognized as the densest (most passage volume per mi3) cave system in the world. The cave passed Hölloch cave in Switzerland on February 11, 2006 to become fourth-longest in the world with 119.58 miles (192.45 km) of explored cave passageways. The cave's current length is 131.04 miles (210.89 km), with an average of four new miles of cave being discovered each year. Above ground, the park includes the largest remaining natural mixed-grass prairie in the United States.

Rushmore Cave is the 9th longest cave in South Dakota. It measures a distance of 3,652.6 feet (1,113.3 m). It is located in the Black Hills National Forest, southeast of Mount Rushmore.

The above quotes are the Wikipedia descriptions of the two caves that we visited. These caves were easily the highlight of our vacation (other than the Crazy Horse American Indian museum) and I took a large number of pictures during the tours. Hopefully, these images will provide some insight into what being a subterranean dwarf would be like.

Rushmore Cave

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wind Cave

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The original entrance to Wind Cave. This was a tiny hole. Stepping inside the rock "bowl" that surrounded this hole was like stepping into a pool, because cold wind was blowing so quickly out of the opening. This cave remains at a constant 58 degrees Fahrenheit (14 degrees Celsius) all seasons of the year.



Images where the lighting looks the way it does in the following picture have been taken with flash, and did not look this bright in real life.



Cave ceiling formations, known as "boxwork". Wind Cave has the most of this of any cave in the world.





This cave was so damp, that water dripped onto my head and camera as I took this close-up picture of the rocks.





"Alright, Urist. Haul these *limestone mugs* up these stairs, one by one, to the trade depot,"



A curious formation...



What your "decorative" one z-level dining hall really looks like:



glass door,forbidden

If you have any questions, I will be glad to answer them.

[Jack Dandy]

Amazing stuff... Caves can be so beautiful, in their own eerie way.

Thanks for the cool pics.

[EmperorNuthulu]

The curious formation one is a cleverly disguised forgotten beast.

[Scarpa]

Nice post, I love these types of things on this forum, DF and it's community is a never ending lesson about geology, theism, programming, sociology, etc.

What your "decorative" one z-level dining hall really looks like:

This reminded me of the first time I looked at a 'massive' Legendary dining hall in a 3D viewer and was sorely disappointed. My next hall was build out of a drained cave pond.

[RevolutionaryDorf]

Wind Cave goes underwater if you go down far enough. They don't scuba dive in it yet, though, because the cave is so huge, only 5% of it (around 136 miles) has been discovered so far. That is crazy.

[zehive]

did you cage a GCS? or find some purring maggots?

[Indricotherium]

That's really cool, I'd love to hit those if I ever get out there. Thanks for posting the pics.

If you're ever in these areas and like caves, hit:
Howes Cavern (Cobleskill, upstate NY)
Ruby Falls (Chatanooga, TN)
Lost Sea (Sweetwater TN)

All three I can HIGHLY recommend.

[RevolutionaryDorf]

Lost Sea (Sweetwater TN)

An underground lake? 
I've got far too many terrifying childhood memories from Hazy Maze Cave in Mario 64 to ever set foot in that cave.

[Draco18s]

Wind Cave goes underwater if you go down far enough. They don't scuba dive in it yet, though, because the cave is so huge, only 5% of it (around 136 miles) has been discovered so far. That is crazy.

Reminds me of a cave I found in Minecraft.  I think I've finally explored it all, but the place is so frigging huge I've only managed to "beutify"¹ about 5% of it (the rest is all natural, but torched and signposted).

¹Make it larger so it feels like a giant cave, as well as smoothing it out with half-blocks so you don't have to jump.