Wind Cave National Park is in the southwestern corner of South Dakota. It's known for the vast, underground Wind Cave, with chambers like the Post Office and the Elks Room. Many of the cave’s walls are rich in honeycomb-shaped calcite formations known as boxwork. The park's prairie and pine forests are home to bison, elk and pronghorn antelopes. Trails include Rankin Ridge, with views of the Black Hills.
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A must visit national park. Couldn't believe how big the cave is. The cave is so large that several types of tours are offered. We took the Fairgrounds tour and would highly recommend for first time visits. The tour is about an hour+. Do note that there are many steps up and down (somewhere near 400+) you will have to traverse. The steps are easily marked and fairly wide. In some areas the height of the walk shrinks to a little above 5ft. So if you're taller you will need to crouch down a few times. I noticed that in this your the path is fairly wide. I don't remember needing to squeeze through.
The only down side of tour is that they allow many people in the tour (I think I counted 30+). You also have to wear a mask (they provide you one if you need). Things to consider if you are concerned with COVID being around.
There is a large visitor center where you can find park rangers that can provide you with more information. Tickets for the tour are purchased here ($16 adults, $8 kids). A museum with sereral exhibit are housed on the bottom floor that further provides you more context regarding the history of the cave. A small gift center is also here for those need to have souvenirs.
Overall highly recommend the visit. Next time I will try out the...
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Wind Cave National Park Review: A Unique Experience Above Ground (2024)
Our recent trip to Wind Cave National Park was a mix of excitement and a little bit of disappointment—but with a surprisingly great twist. Unfortunately, we couldn’t actually explore the cave itself due to a new elevator being installed. However, the visitor center offered a 360 video walk-through of the cave, and let me tell you—it was quite frankly amazing!
The video provided such an immersive experience that it felt like we were right there inside the cave, walking through the intricate passageways and marveling at the unique formations like boxwork. The 360 view really allowed us to appreciate the beauty of the cave, and it was a fantastic alternative given the circumstances.
We’re definitely looking forward to our next visit when we can go down the new elevator and see Wind Cave in person. But even then, I wouldn’t miss the 360 video for anything—it was a highlight of the trip! Whether you’re able to go inside the cave or not, this video is a must-see for anyone visiting the park.
Elk Mountain Campground is the Campground for the Park, absolutely perfect if traveling by...
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This was the 10th National Park on our summer trip and I really wanted to be able to enjoy it. Unfortunately there was so many people there when we arrived that there were no tours available until the last tour of the day which was close to 4:30 in the afternoon. Since it was only about 11:00 in the morning this didn't work for our family. The thing that was frustrating about this is that you have to go to the visitor center in person in order to be able to get your tickets since they do not allow online reservations. Well I understand the importance of people showing up for the tours in person I don't think it's necessary to have an in-person ticket purchase system only. It was very hectic and busy inside the visitor center which is rather small to begin with. Almost nobody was masked other than a few families with kids like ours and this left me feeling very unsafe for our two children who are on vaccinated due to their age. Again if there was an online reservation system people wouldn't need to come hours in advance to try to secure tickets which would certainly do something to help the cramped nature of the...
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