Wind Cave National Park

At the "Natural Entrance" to the Wind Cave

After our excursion to Mount Rushmore we drove a few miles down the road to Wind Cave National Park. It is about an hour South of Mount Rushmore and so cool. It is the 4th largest cave in the world (according to the Rangers and I have no reason to doubt them) and the most complex known cave in the world. Who knew there was such fun stuff in South Dakota? After consulting with Rangers we decided to take an hour and a half tour of the Wind Cave. I wasn't sure if this was an okay thing to do being 23 weeks pregnant but again why doubt the Rangers? So off we went to explore!

This cave was first explored by a 16 year old boy named Alvin and this hole is the natural entrance into the cave its really quite small. His Dad was in charge of a mining company in the area and near by the cave they hadn't found any minerals to mine so it was pretty much left alone. The Native Americans of course knew where it was but they didn't feel the need to explore it so that left Alvin. He was the first real explorer of the cave and left extensive journals from 1891-1893 detailing the cave. I can't imagine being 16 and feeling confident enough to crawl through a hole into a very dark unknown but they might have been lacking for entertainment back then in South Dakota.

Mark sticking his head through the cave entrance. He might have fit with his shoulders turned sideways, its debatable and I am not sure what would have happened to him had he really tried and fallen in. It was kind of fun though because the cave "breathes" on certain days when the pressure is different from outside so all the cool cave air comes out, like an air conditioner. The cave itself is 53 degrees every day, all year.

Walking down into the cave (through a different entrance).

About 123 miles of the cave has been explored. That is only 5% of the cave's size so pretty much anywhere you walk in this area you are walking on top of the cave. Its like Egypt when you are out in the desert who knows what you are walking above.

What makes this cave so different from other caves in the world is this fancy stuff here. It is called Box Work and the Wind Cave has the best example of Box Work in the world. (We sure know how to pick the best caves don't we?) It looks like spiderwebs. I have not been in a ton of caves myself just a couple up in Rexburg (which were way scarier than this probably because we didn't have a guide and it wasn't a National Park.) but I am used to seeing the stalagmites that look like icicles. This stuff could be seen throughout the cave and it was fun to look up and then see these really cool formations. Our Ranger was very nice and our tour was great. I am glad we were able to go.

Should you ever be in South Dakota we totally recommend taking a tour of the caves. There are quite a few in the area and the tours vary in length.