Wind Cave is in the black hills of South Dakota and is next to Custer State Park. If you want to have a trip up to the Dakota region this is the place to be. On the way here I was surprised by a bison who was standing on the side of the road around a blind turn, he was a big boy as well! He just was hanging and eyeballed me the entire time I went by but that was fine. Wind cave is the 7th largest cave in the world and they offer tours for a fee to explore the cave with a Park Ranger, similar to that of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Also like Mammoth Cave the nasty White-nose Syndrome is getting into the bat population so be ready to walk across the soapy mats and don’t wear clothes or shoes into the mine that have already been in other mines without a good scrubbing down. We need these bats to stay around and White-nose Syndrome kills them. The disease starts when the bats hibernate and it attaches to their nose and is a white fungus, hence the name. When the bat realizes they have the fungus they wake up from hibernation and the use up all of their stored energy before spring time and they die either by starving or freezing, not a good way to go for sure. Wind Cave is also close to other places in the National Park system. You can go to Mount Rushmore, 50 miles, or Jewel Cave, 35 miles away. The Badlands National Park is 145 miles away and the Devils Tower is only 135 miles away. Lastly the Minuteman Missile site is 121 miles away and it was the Cold War missile to keep the Russians in check. Always remember that the animals you see in the park are wild and not pets so please stay away from them if you can. NEVER approach an animal and get closer than 25 yards if you can do so. Also know what the signs of stress are for the animal so you can see if they are cool with you taking photos or are they wanting to run you over/eat you. A bison will have their tail straight up and their head will be swinging while they grunt, get out! A bison can run 35 miles per hour and jump 6 feet so be ready, also they can do the 35 miles per hour for 20 miles. I can’t do that much so I will watch to see if I am upsetting them and stop doing what I am doing. Tip: if you want to get a tour get to the visitor center early. A ranger told me this yesterday and I said you open at 0800 and the first tour is at 0840 so 0800 will be OK right? The answer shocked me as a big NO. I got up early and was at the visitor center at 0715 in the AM and was about 50 people in line in front of me and before it was opened at 0800 there was over 400 people in line. I was originally thinking that I could get some breakfast in the van and relax before my tout but nope it was at 0840 and I got to the ticket at 0825. I had to hustle to get my boots on, grab my camera, fleece, Flat Smokey and #stickerCB30. Note: the cave is 53 degrees year round so dress appropriately. Also no backpack, purses, walking sticks, or strollers allowed in the cave. I wish I had not taken a backpack into Mammoth Cave, I would still have my sunglasses but that is for another cave discussion. The cave is not a water cave like Mammoth but it is a boxwork cave and this cave has 90% of the box work in the world. A scientist did do some research in the cave at one of the lakes, I know it is not a water cave, and found some unique life in the water that is no place else in the world. Cool discovery for a scientist to find a microorganism that was never found before.
Cave tours – The tours are Garden of Eden, a 1 hour and 1/3 of a mile hike with 150 stairs. You get to enter and exit with an elevator on this tour and it is rated as easy. The next in line is Natural Entrance Tour and it is 1.25 hour tour and is 2/3 of a mile hike with 300 stairs. You get to see the largest natural opening in the cave. The third tour is Fairgrounds Tour and it is 1.5 hours with a length of 2/3 of a mile hike and 450 stairs. The tour is rated as strenuous due to the 89 stairs in one flight! All of the tours are $12.00 for adults unless you have an Access or Senior pass then it is $6.00. Come on 62 so I can get the Senior pass. When going into the cave leave strollers, backpacks, helmets, trekking poles and other large items in the car as you can’t take them into the cave.
Elk Mountain Campground – is a nice little campground, 62 sites. There are plenty of flush toilets and vault toilets within the campground. Loop A is for tents only and then you have two loops that are for everyone. It is very quiet here and has plenty of trees for shade on hot days. The downside is no reservations as it is first come/first served only but the campground does not generally fill so as long as you get here early you should be fine. I am staying two nights as I will head : Badlands.
Natural Entrance Tour – The tour starts are a covered hut outside of the visitor center. Go down the stairs and head straight out the double doors and walk to the hut. There will be about 30 people maximum on your tour and a ranger/volunteer will guide you along the way. The guide will give you some safety topics so you don’t get lost or hurt yourself. Some people are selected to be the caboose and or a person to make sure you don’t deviate from the trail we are on. The hike starts at a natural exit for the cave and as you walked up you could feel the cool air from the cave coming out of the cave. The tour guide mentioned that the barometric pressure in the cave is either higher or lower than the outside pressure depending on the weather outside. Depending on the pressure the air in the cave goes out or in. If it is out, like the day I went, you can feel the cave’s cool air coming out. The guide showed us with a piece of tape the air flow but she did not have to do that as we could all feel the cool air. Once we were to start in the cave we had to hand over our tickets and wait by an air lock door, remember the pressure. Well seems someone had a later tour and wanted to go on our tour but you guide made them leave as we could only have 30 and not 32 people. Once that was figured out we shut the outside door with a slam and off to the inside we went! The beginning of the cave is the stairs part as we went down 110 feet and at times the stairs were not that big. The width of the cave was not that bad nor was height but I did have to duck down in some places or I would have hit my head. We walked along the path for the most part but did stop at a big area to discuss the boxwork and how it was formed. A few more times we headed down with steps but again a railing was there to help you if needed. The next stop was to show us complete darkness in the cave but as luck would have it we could not get into complete darkness as our guide could not work the electrical system or it was broken. We started onward only to stop as the lighting was not working further down and our guide came back to get it working. Once that was done we went further into the cave and came to another large room were the tour ended. We did not have to walk up the steps but had an elevator ride to the top. Fun stuff: A little girl named Charlotte was in front of me with her family, parents and 4 kids 5 and under! She was about 4 and was taking photos of everything on the steps and along the entire way. I sure hope she had a large memory card in that kids camera she had or she may have missed something. Her younger sister, 2, did not seem to have fun in the cave but she was a trooper. Remember once you start their is only one way out the end, unless you are hurt etc.
Fairgrounds Tour – I will start by saying that I wish I had photos of this tour but I forgot to put the memory card into the camera so the great shots are only in my head! UGH! This is the most strenuous of the tours offered at the cave. There are more stairs on this tour than any others with a total 450 stairs. The tour goes up and down with the stairs and in one case it is 89 in a row. There are many cool places like the fairgrounds themselves. You start and end at the elevators and the first part of this tour was the same as the last part of the Natural Entrance Tour. You get to see the boxwork, and also popcorn within the cave. The ranger was able to get the lights out and it is dark inside the cave without the lights from the national park service. The ranger providing the tour talked about people getting lost as part of the cave’s history. In the late 1800’s a tour guide was 17 years old and he was a fast walker and one day he exited the cave and he had only a few people from his tour with him. Thinking the others would come out quickly he went home and had his meal. Some came out but in the AM when he got up he realized that some of the tour was still in the cave, he went looking for them and found them. The latest person lost was in 1989 when a lady was caving and went to explore an area but left her backpack with 2 of the 3 forms of light you are to have behind. He light went out and she continued on in the dark but eventually stopped. They found her some 30 hours later. Remember safety is important when you are hiking on top or below the surface.
