Tell Your FriendsWind Cave National Park
One of the world's longest and most complex caves and 28,295 acres of mixed-grass prairie, ponderosa pine forest, and associated wildlife are the main features of the park. The cave is well known for its outstanding display of boxwork, an unusual cave formation composed of thin calcite fins resembling honeycombs. The park's mixed-grass prairie is one of the few remaining and is home to native wildlife such as bison, elk, pronghorn, mule deer, coyotes, and prairie dogs.
American Indians of the area have known about the opening to Wind Cave for centuries. However, the first recorded finding of Wind Cave was in 1881. Jesse and Tom Bingham were attracted to the cave by a whistling noise. As the story goes, wind was blowing out of the cave entrance with such force that it blew off Tom’s hat. A few days later when Jesse returned to show this phenomenon to some friends, he was surprised to find the wind had switched directions and his hat was sucked into the cave. Today, we understand that the direction of the wind is related to the difference in atmospheric pressure between the cave and the surface.
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Wind Cave National Park Visitor Experiences
Memories For A Lifetime - 2008 National Park/Monument Summer Tour
This was supposed to be the summer where we were going to take just a few weekend trips due to work and school but ended up being an unbelievable National Park/Monument tour. My 4 kids (ages 5, 7, 12 and 15) and I drove from New Hampshire to South Dakota to begin our vacation at Badlands …
