Wind Caves National Park

Well, we survived Nebraska. Since we awoke and found ourselves alive and well we decided to head to the next National Park, which happened to be Wind Caves National Park. Wind Caves National Park is located near Custer, SD, which is near... pretty much nothing else. The cave is located under a part of the american prairie that is now preserved forever! I didn't see any little houses on the prairie, but then again, we didn't go everywhere in the park... so... still a possibility.

The prairie was actually really cool to see. We saw a few Buffalo (including one who blocked our intended hiking route... we wanted to approach him, but there were signs that indicated he might take offense, which would introduce us to a new sport... sprinting. We opted out.) and lots of prairie dogs in their towns. They were very vocal, and adorable. We took pictures.

As cool as the prairie is, the real draw at this NP is the cave, called by some (well, now days pretty much everyone) Wind Cave. The cave is both deep and wide, but we didn't see any fountains flowing deep inside. They did say that there is water at the bottom of the cave though... which may count. Really though, the cave system as over 140 miles of explored tunnels/rooms. It is estimated (based on the amount of air that moves in/out of the cave) that there is only about 5% of the above water cave that has been explored. That is a lot of cave, our tour guide suggested that getting lost would have been a bad idea.

Cave tour!

We took the Fairgrounds Tour of the cave (one of several tours offered). We wanted to go on the Wild Cave Tour (where you get to do some more exploratory type activities) but it was already full. The tour lasted about 1.5 hours and explored parts of the middle and lower levels of the cave (the route was paved and lighted). There are some cool geological formations in the cave that are nearly unique to this cave (95% of the known boxwork in the world is in this cave!) but there are very few stalagmites and stalactites since the cave is fairly dry. Some other fun features are the popcorn and frostwork formations that can be seen around the cave.

Personnel:
We talked to several of the staff in the Visitor's Center. As expected they were both knowledgeable and helpful when looking into the park options. Because viewing much of this park is about the cave, getting tickets to one of the tours is definitely important, and they were very happy to give guidance on which tours were available and which ones would fit our style best.

Our tour guide through the cave was awesome. We were a very large group that tended to get strung out, but she did a great job making sure none of us missed any of the cave features. She knew all about the geology of the cave and was able to answer all our questions, as well as providing a lot of interesting facts. Also, the cave is a sacred site to Lakota Indians, and our tour guide was Lakota. She told us the Lakota story of the cave and how her people came to be via the cave, which is something that I felt privileged to hear from (literally) the source!

Climate/weather:
Well, since we were in a cave most of the day, it didn't make as much of a difference... but, when we were topside it was quite warm, warm enough that a long, strenuous hike would have been unpleasant.

Facilities/signage:
The bathroom facilities were clean and well stocked (and they had super comfy waiting chairs), and the entrance sign was pretty standard. I did feel like the signs around the visitor's center that directed you to the various cave entrances were a bit lacking, we weren't exactly sure we were headed the right direction, but we found where we were going. The hiking trail signs weren't great either, we relied heavily on google maps to get us to the trail we were looking for.

Hiking trail experience:
We took the Rankin Ridge Nature Trail, which is a 1 mile loop. Besides the fact that the trails weren't super well marked, and a bison was blocking our way when we did find the trail, the hiking experience was quite good. This is definitely tick country, so be wary. Fortunately we did not find any on us afterwards. The hike took us to the highest point in the park, which gave a good view of the surrounding prairie and ponderosa pine groves.

Rankin Ridge Nature trail!

Driving experience:
We drove from south to north through the park, stopping at a pullout to get some pictures and watch some prairie dogs. We saw several lone bison, along with a herd of 15+ that were blocking the road for a minute or two. The views of the prairie from the road were very pretty. And the prairie dogs were cute.

Camping options:
We didn't notice any campgrounds inside the park itself, but there were some just outside in the surrounding areas. We slept in the back of the car the night before in Nebraska, and after we stayed in the town of Custer near a hotel.

Hammockability:
No bears! This park is outside bear territory, so that is one less thing to worry about when hammocking. There were plenty of tree options, including around the trail we hiked, that would have made hammocking quite enjoyable.

Scenery:
We have definitely moved past the mountains. The prairie really is beautiful, there is just something inviting about the rolling grasslands that draws you in. The mix of prairie and forest also allowed for a lot of wildlife viewing as they are very present in this park.

Prairie dogs are just adorable!

Our friend the bison wanted a selfie with us.

He's also adorable...

Nearby food:
We didn't see any food options within the park, but just south of the park is the town of Hot Springs that has some food options, and there are several towns within an hours drive northwest of the park as well.


Seeing and exploring the prairie and especially the cave was a different NP experience than we have had so far! Because the park is fairly small I don't feel like we missed out on anything major. However, it would have been fun to do the Wild Caves Tour (only offered once per day on the weekends, and it books up fast!) so next time we are in SD for some reason... look out!