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National Parks Road Trip & Alaska Sea/Land Cruise - April-June 2015
Wind Cave National Park

Wind Cave National Park is not far from Mount Rushmore so the morning after the day we had visited Mount Rushmore we went to Wind Cave. The road we took to get there passed through Custer State Park, which we were told was a great place to see buffalo and other wildlife. We passed through Custer State Park going and returning, but we did not see any wildlife. This was OK since we had seen so much at other stops and we saw quite a bit at Wind Cave. The other national parks we visited on this trip were mountainous, Wind Caves is rolling prairies.

When we arrived at the visitor center we presented one of our Senior Passes and bought 2 tickets for the Natural Entrance Tour. After arriving at home while entering the credit card slip into the journal we discovered that we had paid half price for one ticket and full price for the other. There were no signs displaying prices for the tours so we had thought we had received a discount on both tickets. Ernie had read on the internet that this was the case, but unfortunately 8 or 9 weeks later thought it applied to the walk-in fee at one of the other parks. So if you go to Wind Cave be sure to present a Senior Pass for each person in your party that has one.

Though it is called the Natural Entrance Tour we did not enter through the natural entrance, which is so small you have to crawl through it and some people in the tour are large enough they would have trouble getting through it. There is a door way that is real close to the natural entrance, this is what we used to enter the cave. Before entering the cave, we did go to the natural entrance where it was demonstrated how the cave got its name, the ranger held a bandanna in front of the entrance and the bandanna stood almost straight out because of the wind coming out. She explained that most cave wind is an effect of thermal activity, but that the wind at Wind Cave is caused by a difference in barometric pressure in the cave and outside the cave. So when the barometric pressure is greater in the cave the wind blows out and when it is greater outside the cave the wind blows in. When doing the Natural Entrance Tour there are 300 stairs, mostly down, on the path through the cave.

Wind Cave is different from the many other caves we have visited. At most caves Ernie might have to bow his head at a few low spots and the passage may narrow to within a few inches on either side of his shoulders. In Wind Cave he had to bow his head a considerable amount of the time and he frequently felt his shoulders rub on the walls and at some points had to turn his upper body to pass through. Where the "rooms" opened up the passage became about as wide as what most of the passages at Carlsbad Caverns are all the way through. There are not many large stalactites nor stalagmites, but there is boxwork everywhere. Boxwork is an uncommon type of mineral structure that is caused by erosion, since it is created in this manner it is not growing like stalactites and stalagmites so people need to be very careful as if it is broken it can not be replaced. The tour we were on went about 500 feet below the surface and we walked for a distance of about two-thirds of a mile. Though this tour covered only a short distance, Wind Caves is considered to have the longest, most complex passages in the world. At one point, as with most cave tours, the lights were shut off so we could experience total darkness. With stopping for the ranger to discuss features near us the tour took over 1½ hrs.

When the tour was over we asked one of the rangers where we could get some lunch, we were told we would have to go into Hot Springs. We drove through the park and saw there was a huge area covered with prairie dog holes and saw some buffalo off in the distance. We decided we would stop to watch the wildlife when we returned after lunch. We were told we would have to go quite a ways into Hot Springs then would come to an area with a lot of chain restaurants, but shortly into Hot Springs we spotted "Dale's Family Restaurant". So of course we stopped there for lunch. The food was good and the prices much more reasonable than anyplace in Keystone. Ernie had his first Elk burger, it was a little bit gamier than buffalo or venison.

Upon returning to the park we saw some buffalo, at one point buffalo and pronghorn were grazing in the same area. A little farther along we stopped in the midst of "Prairie Dog Town". The area was covered with prairie dog holes, several holes had 3 or 4 and even more prairie dogs at them. We stayed there for more than ½ watching the prairie dogs. As we drove through that section of the park there were prairie dogs everywhere. We also saw a few more buffalo. We saw a traffic sign in the park that we have not seen before. It was a curve in the road sign that looked like a capital letter P with the road crossing itself. (Pictures)

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Last updated:   jul 13 2015