Exploring Wind Cave National Park on the Fairgrounds Tour

Looking for more things to do near Wind Cave National Park?
Head north to Custer State Park where you can paddle and swim in Sylvan Lake or hike to the top of Black Elk Peak. For another fun cave adventure, check out Jewel Cave National Monument.

THE LAKOTA & WIND CAVE

Wind Cave is a sacred place for the Lakota, on whose land the national park now sits. The cave has but one natural entrance, a small opening where a breeze escapes, connecting the world above ground to the world below. In Lakota culture, this is the very spot where their ancestors first emerged and came to live on earth. Visit the National Park Service website to read their story, and be sure to stop by the visitor center at Wind Cave National Park to learn more. You can also take a short accessible hike to view the natural entrance above ground, or join the Natural Entrance Tour to see it from within.

CURRENT INFO

General information and updates about Wind Cave National Park are available on the National Park Service Website. Reservations for the Fairgrounds Tour and other cave tours are available through the recreation.gov website. If you’re planning a trip to Wind Cave National Park and the Black Hills of South Dakota, I recommend the book Moon South Dakota’s Black Hills: With Mount Rushmore & Badlands National Park by Laural A. Bidwell.

GOOD TO KNOW

• Wind Cave National Park is free to enter. You can park and hike the trails at no cost.
• Cave tours cost between $14 and $16 per person for adults. Tickets for children ages six through 15 and seniors cost $7 to $8, while children five and under are free. Cave tour fees are not covered by the America the Beautiful pass or other national parks passes.
• I recommend reserving your tour in advance. Reservations are available to book starting 120 days in advance through the recreation.gov website. Be sure to arrive 30 minutes prior to the start of your tour to pick up your tickets.
• If you do not have advance reservations, arrive early to secure one of the first come, first served spots.
• We took the Fairgrounds Tour. At 90 minutes, this is the longest and most strenuous of the three basic cave tours offered at Wind Cave National Park.
• Shorter tours include the 1-hour Garden of Eden Tour and the 75-minute Natural Entrance Tour.
• More adventurous tours include the Candlelight Tour and the Wild Cave Tour. Age restrictions and other considerations apply.
• There is also an Accessibility Tour for those with limited mobility.
• Restrooms and drinking water are available in the Visitor Center.
• Pets are not allowed on trails or cave tours in Wind Cave National Park.
• Wear shoes or boots with good traction and extra layers. Wind Cave is 54 degrees Fahrenheit year round, and the paths inside the cave can be slippery.
• Always follow Leave No Trace principles. In fact, you will not be allowed to bring many items into the cave with you. No backpacks, walking sticks, food, drinks, or gum is allowed. You can bring a phone or camera to take photos, but no tripods, selfie sticks, or monopods are allowed.

HIGHLIGHTS

Wind Cave National Park is home to one of the most extensive cave systems in the world, so vast that we may never know its full extent. The Fairgrounds Tour explores a tiny fraction of the caverns, and showcases some fine examples of boxwork, cave popcorn, and frostwork. Of these formations, Wind Cave is most famous for its boxwork, a rare formation created by interlacing shards of calcite. It’s thought that Wind Cave holds 95% of the world’s boxwork — wow! Join a tour and marvel at the intricacies of this incredible place.

Don’t neglect the chance to explore above ground, too. Even if you only have time for a drive, Wind Cave National Park is a great place to spot wildlife and take in the beauty of the prairies.

THE KIDS’ TAKE

Taking the elevator deep into the underground was a pretty cool experience for the kids. Wind Cave doesn’t wow with massive stalactites and stalagmites, but the sheer scale of the place boggles the mind, as does the intricate boxwork. Be sure that your kids are comfortable with being on their feet for 90 minutes with frequent stops to listen to the guide. No running is allowed, and all participants need to stay quiet while the guide is talking.

If you feel your kids aren’t up for such a long tour yet, Wind Cave National Park also offers shorter tours, including the 1-hour Garden of Eden Tour and the 75-minute Natural Entrance Tour. The Candlelight Tour is open to kids age eight and up, and the much more strenuous Wild Cave Tour is open to ages 16 and up.

Regardless of which option you choose, be sure to stop by the visitor center to check out the exhibits and pick up a Junior Ranger booklet to complete and earn your badge. My six-year-old loved crawling through the box below that mimics the size of of some of the narrowest navigable passages in Wind Cave.

WHILE YOU’RE HERE

Not all of Wind Cave National Park’s sights lie below ground. A variety of trails within the park give those with more time the chance to explore golden grasslands and forests of ponderosa pine. Follow scenic Highway 87 north to Custer State Park, where the rolling prairies of Wind Cave rise to meet the rocky pinnacles of the Black Hills. As you drive, keep an eye out for buffalo, prairie dogs, and other wildlife.

With plentiful opportunities for hiking, wildlife spotting, and scenic drives, this region is well worth an extended visit. Campers can stay at Elk Mountain Campground in Wind Cave National Park or one of the many campgrounds in and around Custer State Park. Our family enjoyed an eight-night stay at Bismarck Lake Campground, located just outside the state park. While there, take a hike through Sunday Gulch, paddle across Sylvan Lake, or follow the trail to the top of Black Elk Peak. Northwest of Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument is another incredible cavern worth visiting.

Our trip to Wind Cave National Park began with a scenic drive. Following Highway 87 south from Bismarck Lake Campground, we left the Black Hills behind for rolling green grasslands shimmering under the hazy summer sun. In a mere half hour, we arrived at our destination and were greeted by the sight of the cheery butter-yellow visitor center.

As instructed, we arrived early to check in for our tour. This gave us some time to pick up our Junior Ranger booklets, check out the exhibits, and, most importantly, use the restrooms. There are no such facilities in the cave!

Wind Cave National Park is a busy place in summer, as most visitors come for one thing only: a tour of its namesake cave. I’m afraid that we, too, fell in this category, although we did take the time for a leisurely picnic following our tour. This gave our boys ample time to complete their Junior Ranger booklets. We also had the pleasure of enjoying the windswept beauty of the prairies on our drive. Frequent thunderstorms left the grasses a vibrant green, while overhead gauzy white clouds streaked across the blue sky. The drive along Highway 87 between Wind Cave National Park and Custer State Park is stunning, and you never know when you might spot a herd of buffalo grazing near the road.

Back at the visitor center, we made our way down the paved path to the historic elevator building to meet our group for the Fairgrounds Tour. Cave tour groups meet here for an orientation with one of Wind Cave’s rangers before descending into the depths of the caverns. The first elevator was built in 1935 and was modernized when a second was added in 1959. They are both just a little bit temperamental, but hopefully the fact that they were repaired in 2019 will inspire confidence. It’s all part of the Wind Cave experience!

As mentioned earlier in this post, Wind Cave is a sacred place for the Lakota People. Our guide stressed the importance of this fact before our group descended into the cave. But although this is Lakota land, the underground caverns were not explored (as far as we know) until the 1880s. Various white settlers laid claim to the land in the 1880s and 1890s in the hopes of claiming tourist dollars as well. After many squabbles, the U.S. government determined that the parties involved had no right to the land, and in 1903 Wind Cave was declared a National Park.

Of course, once our group was down in the cave, our attention shifted to the wonders around us. Early on in the tour, our guide highlighted the delicate boxwork formations that spiderweb their way across the cavern ceilings. These unusual calcite formations are found in very few caves, and the vast majority are found right here within Wind Cave itself.

Other fascinating formations include frostwork and cave popcorn. Cave popcorn looks pretty much just like what you’d expect — tiny white globules attached to the cave walls, looking much like popcorn, but strong enough to break a tooth should you decide to bite into one.

Of course, no one was snacking on cave popcorn. To protect the natural wonders of the cave, it’s vital to avoid touching any of the formations or cavern walls. It will come as no surprise that visitors weren’t always so careful in the past, and in one spot we spied graffiti left long ago by early explorers.

Throughout the tour we climbed stairs and navigated a few narrow passages that connected larger caverns. Taller visitors on the Fairgrounds Tour will have to duck a couple of times along the route, but for the most part the ceilings are high and rooms are spacious. At one point we took a seat to listen further to our ranger guide, and to experience the utter blackness that engulfed us when she momentarily turned out the lights.

As our 90 minute Fairgrounds Tour drew to a close, we returned to the elevators, ready to ascend to the surface. Back in the daylight, a riot of technicolor greens and blues greeted us. The wonders of Wind Cave were worlds apart from the rolling prairies dotted with pine trees. On our visit to Wind Cave National Park we were fortunate enough to experience the best of both.