| Wind Cave National Park | |
Things to Do:
Wind Cave National Park offers opportunities for a variety of activities depending on your personal interests. To make the most of your trip, stop at the visitor center first where a park ranger can provide you with information about cave tours, ranger-guided hikes, and other programs available at the park. The Visitor Center contains three exhibit rooms featuring cave exploration, cave formations, early cave history, the Civilian Conservation Corps, park wildlife, and resource management.
Cave tours
Wind Cave includes more than 83 miles of known passages. Three cave tours,
available on a year round basis, follow paved and lighted walkways through
underground passages. The Natural Entrance Tour and the Fairgrounds Tour last
from 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. The shorter Garden of Eden Tour lasts around an
hour.
Two special tours are offered from mid-June to mid-August. The Candlelight Tour allows visitors to experience Wind Cave as early visitors may have. Most of the tour route follows passages where the only light comes from handheld candle-lanterns. This strenuous tour covers one mile of rugged trail and lasts two hours. The Wind Cave Tour allows visitors to experience what it is like to explore a wild 3,000-foot passage of Wind Cave. Participants must be physically fit for this special tour, which requires a lot of crawling and takes four hours.
All cave tours are ranger-guided and depart from the visitor center. Tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis. Long waits for tours may be encountered during peak summer visitation. To avoid waits, the best time to visit the cave is during the early hours of the day. Reservations are recommended for the Candlelight and Wind Cave tours. Reservations for organized groups are available. For further information call 605-745-4600.
Hiking
The park's 30 miles of hiking trails include the southern terminus of the
111-mile Centennial Trail. The 1 1/4-mile Rankin Ridge Trail offer panoramic
views of the Black Hills from a ridgetop lookout. Other trails also offer
excellent opportunities for viewing one of the best examples of mixed-grass
prairie in the United States. Seventy-five percent of the park is mixed-grass
prairie and the balance is ponderosa pine forest and riparian habitat.
Evening campfire talks are presented at the Elk Mountain Campground amphitheater. Topics may include wildlife, plants, geology, park management and history. Nightly program titles are posted at the visitor center. Other programs include two-hour, ranger-led walks to explore the park's prairie and forest habitats.
Scenic driving and
wildlife viewing
Several scenic roadways lead through the Black Hills to the park. Sightseers
will especially enjoy the Wildlife Loop Road, Iron Mountain Road, and Needles
Highway, which wind through pine-spruce forests, meadows, and mountains. Sightseeing along park roads offers views of the Black Hills as well as
wildlife, including bison, elk, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, and prairie
dogs.