Location: Hot Springs, SD Map
Area: 28,295 acres (114 km²)
Official site
There are no fees to drive through or hike in the park. There are fees associated with visiting the cave or camping in the park's campground. There are five cave tours, costing $7-25/adult and $3.50-4.50/child.
The cave called Wind Cave is located in Wind Cave
National Park in western South Dakota and is one of the longest
caves in the world with over 150 miles of explored trails. The cave
is known for calcium formations called boxwork, which spread like
honeycombs along the walls.
The national park was opened in
1903 under US President Theodore Roosevelt as the seventh national
park in the United States. Wind Cave is the world's first cave to be
designated a national park. Further west lies another large cave,
Jewel Cave.
On the surface, one of the last remaining
prairies remains, a natural home for bison, elk, pronghorn and
prairie dogs. In 2007, the park was included in the large-scale
release program for the black-footed polecat. The species, already
considered extinct, has been bred in captivity and released into the
wild in central and western regions of the United States since 1991.
Elk Mountain Campground. With 75 campsites, is located one mile from the visitor center; fee $12/night/site during high-use months, $6/night/site other times, 50% discount with Park Pass. Campsites are basic, with running water during high-use periods but not year-round.
The Wind Cave is the sixth longest in the world, with 226 kilometers explored in 2018, and the one with the largest passage volume. It was named "Wind Cave" because of the noisy current of air that escaped from its opening when it was discovered. Large and extremely complex, Wind Cave has undergone many geological changes and the process continues. Raised calcite veinlets called "boxwork" are found in caves, and 90% of the boxwork found in the world is found in these caves.
The national park also protects, above the caves, the largest mixed grass prairie in the United States. The prairie is a refuge for wildlife including bison, moose, deer, pronghorn, coyotes, prairie dogs, raccoons, porcupines and beavers. In 1913, 14 bison (a species which had disappeared) were reintroduced, with success as the herds have grown considerably since then. The pronghorn antelope was reintroduced at the same time (just like the elk): the original 18 animals are now between 60 and 120. There are also small predators, wild cats, pumas, badgers, but the coyote is the most widespread. The prairie rattlesnake is also present. The meadow is completed, on its heights, by a forest of ponderosa pines. 25% of the park is covered with trees.
Records of the earliest expeditions to Wind Cave
suggest that people entered the cave for all of these reasons. Today,
visitors to Wind Cave National Park wander through some of the cave's
more than 100 miles of passages in search of a similar experience.
Wind Cave National Park's attractions are not limited to its
subterranean geological wonders. Bison, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and a
variety of other wildlife inhabit the 28,295 acres of rolling prairies,
pine forests, hills, and canyons in the sun-drenched upper reaches. Here
one can see the faint remnants of the prairie and imagine the scene that
greeted 19th century pioneers heading west. A portion of that prairie
has been preserved here in an almost natural state.
The Wind Cave
area has been protected since 1903, when it became the seventh oldest
national park in the United States. The cave, considered sacred by
American Indians, was discovered by settlers in 1881 when brothers Jesse
and Tom Bingham heard a loud whistling sound. The sound led them to the
cave's only natural opening, a small hole in the ground. From that hole,
they were told, a gale blew so strong that it knocked Jesse's hat off
his head. That wind, which gave the cave its name, is caused by the
difference in air pressure between inside and outside the cave. This
wind can still be seen at the entrance to the cave.
It was left
to later adventurers like Alvin MacDonald to follow that wind and
discover the cave's extensive network of passages, including delicate
and irreplaceable formations of boxwork, popcorn, and frostwork. young
Alvin and others who explored the cave before 1900 found
chocolate-colored crystals, formations resembling faces and animals, and
chambers that gave rise to names like "Garden of Eden" and "Dungeon,"
they were fascinated by what they found. When these discoveries were
reported, curious tourists visited the caves in droves. Local
entrepreneurs, including the McDonald family, blew up the passageways
and guided tourists through for a fee. Cave specimens were taken out and
sold. Today, the cave's fragile features are protected.
To
witness the beginnings of the formation of Wind Cave, one of the oldest
caves in the world, one must have been here 320 million years ago. Some
of the limestone that made up the upper layers of Wind Cave had
dissolved into the cave's passageways. As the ancient sea level
fluctuated, these passages filled with sediment. Below the sea, a thick
layer of sediment continued to accumulate on top of the limestone.
About 60 million years ago, the forces that uplifted the Rocky
Mountains also uplifted the present-day Black Hills, creating large
cracks and fissures in the overlying limestone. Over millions of years,
water moving slowly through the cracks dissolved the limestone, creating
a complex maze of cave passages.
Subsequent erosion altered
surface drainage patterns, lowering the water table underground and
allowing the cave passages to drain. As modern Wind Cave formed, many of
these new passages intersected older filled caves, revealing 320 million
year old red clay and sandstone deposits. A three-dimensional network of
passages was formed, creating one of the most complex caves in the
world.
Boxwork, thin honeycomb-like structures of calcite
protruding from the walls and ceiling, were also exposed. Although there
are few stalactites or stalagmites in Cave of the Winds, many unusual
formations and a variety of minerals have been discovered. The cave's
complex geology, rich boxwork, and variety of minerals make Wind Cave a
world-class cave.
After more than 100 years of exploration, one
might wonder what new discoveries have been made in Wind Cave.
Barometric wind surveys estimate that about 5 percent of the entire cave
has been discovered. In 1891, Alvin MacDonald wrote in his caver's
journal: "I gave up trying to find the end of Wind Cave. Today's great
cavers have not given up. They continue to go deeper and deeper into the
cold black depths of the cave.