Wind Cave National Park

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We had already visited a cave on our national park journey. It was the longest cave system in the world, in fact. It had a room big enough to hold an airliner. Therefore, I admittedly went into Wind Cave a little skeptical that it would impress me.

After visiting, I can report that my skepticism was well founded. While a neat cave, Wind Cave fails to impress after visiting Mammoth Cave. I told Julie that I would have enjoyed it much more had we come here first.

Wind Cave is known as such because the small natural entrance that was discovered in the late 19th century had a rather strong gust of wind coming out of it. This isn't a scientific mystery; it's due to unequal pressure within the cave and on the surface. Sometimes the air flows in.

The walking tour through the cave took us roughly 200 feet below ground and 3/4 of a mile horizontally. This isn't a cave with many formations (no stalactites or stalagmites here), but it does have one unique claim to fame: boxwork. The ranger told us that 90% of the world's boxwork is found in Wind Cave.

Boxwork

Something like 150 miles of cave have been discovered so far, and new discoveries are still being made. And the entire cave is within roughly 1 square mile. Facts like that make me think that there must be undiscovered caves all over the place.

On the surface, we were treated to more prairies (there are lots of those in this part of the country). We saw bison and prairie dogs, which were not new to us, as well as pronghorn antelope, which were.

The boys and I took a hike one evening, and I led them off the beaten path in search of elk (that's perfectly legal in most national parks). We explored a very steep hill, some thorn bushes, and some poison ivy. We did not find any elk.

This bison didn't make it



Location: Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota, USA

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