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, which is 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.

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General Information

Visitation

Highest in June, July, and August; lowest in December, January, and February.

Location

Seven miles north of Hot Springs, SD, on U.S. Route 385.

Address

Wind Cave National Park
RR 1, Box 190-WCNP
Hot Springs, SD 57747-9430

Telephone

(605) 745-4600

Operating Hours & Seasons

The park is open year-round. The visitor center is open daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas Days. Visitor center hours: January 1 to March 14 - 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; March 15 to May 2 - 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; May 3 to June 6 - 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; June 7 to August 22 - 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; August 23 to September 26 - 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; September 27 to October 10 - 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; October 11 to mid-March, 1999 - 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; mid-March 1999 to early May 1999 - 8 a.m to 5 p.m.

Directions

Visitors traveling on I-90: At Rapid City, SD, exit onto U.S. Route 79 south. Follow Route 79 south approximately 50 miles to U.S. Route 18. Turn right onto U.S. Route 385 North, which will take you through Hot Springs and into Wind Cave National Park. Follow signs to the visitor center for cave tours and general park information.

Visitors can also reach the park by following U.S. Route 16 west out of Rapid City onto U.S. Route 385 south. Visitors traveling from Nebraska can follow U.S. Route 385 north to the park.

Fees, Costs & Rates

No park entrance fee. Fees are charged for cave tours and camping. Cave tour fees range from $4 to $15 per adult depending on the type of tour. Children, ages 6 to 16, receive a reduced price for cave tours. Ages 5 and under are free.

The camping fee at Elk Mountain Campground is $10 per night per campsite from mid-May to mid-September. From April 1 to mid-May and from mid-September to October 31, campground facilities are reduced and the fee is $5 per night.

Persons with Golden Age or Golden Access Passports receive a discount on cave tours and camping fees. This discount applies only to the card holder for cave tour fees.

Golden Eagle Passport

The Golden Eagle Passport is an entrance pass to any national park, monument, historical site, recreation area, and national wildlife refuge that charges an entrance fee. It is a great convenience for those who plan on visiting several different areas that charge special fees. It is valid for one year from the purchase date. A Golden Eagle Passport may be purchased for $50 at any National Park Service entrance fee area or by mail. To order by mail, send check or money order (no cash, please) to:

National Park Service
1100 Ohio Drive, SW
Room 138
Washington, DC 20242
Attention: Golden Eagle Passport

Where entry is by private vehicle, the Golden Eagle Passport will admit the passholder as well as any passengers. Where entry by private vehicle is not possible, the pass will admit the passholder, spouse, children and parents.

The Golden Eagle Passport will not reduce use fees, such as those for camping, swimming, parking, boat launching, or cave tours. It covers entrance fees only.

Golden Age Passport

The Golden Age Passport is a lifetime entrance pass for those United States residents 62 years or older. These may be purchased at any National Park Service entrance fee area for a one-time processing fee of $10. The Golden Age Passport cannot be purchased by mail or telephone. Proof of age and citizenship or permanent residence must be shown at the time of purchase.

The Golden Age Passport will admit the passholder and any passengers in a private vehicle. When entrance is not via private vehicle, the pass will admit the passholder as well as children, spouse, and parents.

The Golden Age Pass grants a 50 percent discount to the holder on any federal use fees charged for things such as camping, swimming, parking, boat launching, or tours. It does not, however, reduce the price of special recreation permit fees or fees for concessions.

Golden Access Passport

The Golden Access Passport is a free entrance pass to any national park, monument, historic site, recreation area, and national wildlife refuge for those who are blind or permanently disabled. The Golden Access passport may be obtained at any National Park Service entrance fee area. Proof of a medically determined disability and eligibility for receiving benefits under federal law is necessary at purchase.

The Golden Access Passport will admit the passholder and any passengers in a private vehicle. Where entrance is not by vehicle, the pass will admit the passholder, spouse, children and parents.

The Golden Access Passport also provides a 50 percent discount on any federal use fees charged for services and facilities. It does not cover special recreation permit fees or fees charged for concessions.

All passes described above are non-transferable.

Facilities & Opportunities

Visitor Center & Exhibits

The visitor center contains three exhibit rooms featuring cave exploration, cave formations, early cave history, the Civilian Conservation Corps, park wildlife, resource management and Native American history in the Black Hills.

Trails & Roadways

There are 30 miles of hiking trails in the park. U.S. Route 385, S.D. Route 87 and two backcountry roads make much of the park accessible to motor vehicles.

Two trails, the Rankin Ridge Trail and the Elk Mountain Trail are self-guiding nature trails with trail booklets.

Programs & Activities

Regularly scheduled cave tours, year-round. Five types of cave tours are scheduled approximately every twenty minutes, from 8:40 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., daily, June 1 to August 16. Tour schedules are reduced the remainder of the year. Guided prairie hikes, evening campfire programs, and visitor center lawn programs, in season. A Junior Ranger program is available for ages 12 and under.

Lodging & Camping Facilities

Elk Mountain Campground, with 75 campsites, is located one mile from the visitor center. The campground has flush toilets and running water during the summer months. There are no showers, dump stations, or electrical hookups. Campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Other camping is available throughout the area in federal, state, and private campgrounds.

Lodging is not available in the park. Numerous lodging facilities are available in the nearby communities of Hot Springs and Custer, South Dakota.

Food & Supplies

A vending area offers limited snacks and beverages year round. Restaurants and grocery stores are located in nearby Hot Springs and Custer, South Dakota. Custer State Park offers restaurants and mini-markets for camper supplies in season.

Other Visitor Facilities & Opportunities

The Black Hills Parks and Forest Association operates a bookstore in the visitor center. The bookstore includes books on Wind Cave National Park, caves and caving, the natural and cultural history of the area, hiking, and other national park areas. The bookstore also offers maps, posters, postcards, videos, audio tapes, CDs, and games. For additional information call (605) 745-7020.

A small picnic area is located .25 mile from the visitor center.

Recommended Activities & Park Use

Touring the cave; hiking in the prairie and forest; walking the nature trails; observing plants and wildlife; bird watching; photography, camping at Elk Mountain Campground or in the backcountry; attending evening campfire programs, participating in the Junior Ranger program; taking a guided prairie hike, enjoying the view from the top of the Rankin Ridge Fire Tower.

Basic Visit Recommendations

Stay at least a day to leisurely view exhibits in the visitor center, tour the cave (length of tours vary), and spend time viewing wildlife, hiking, driving park roads, and participate in the park's Junior Ranger program.

Visitor Impacts

Cave tours are often sold out. Waits from 1 to 1* hours are not uncommon, especially for afternoon tours during the peak season from mid-June to Labor Day.

All park animals are wild and can be dangerous. Always view wildlife from a respectful distance.

Adjacent Visitor Attractions

Mount Rushmore National Memorial, near Keystone, SD; Jewel Cave National Monument, near Custer, SD; Custer State Park, north of Wind Cave National Park; Crazy Horse Memorial, near Custer, SD; The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD; Badlands National Park near Wall, SD; Devils Tower National Monument in WY.

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History

Discovery

Native Americans of the area have many stories about holes in the Black Hills that blow wind, but the first recorded discovery 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 phenomena 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.

The first person reported to have entered the cave was Charlie Crary in the fall of 1881. He claimed to have left twine to mark his trail, others entering the cave later found his twine. These early explorers were the first to see a rare cave formation called boxwork.

McDonald Family

Several mining claims were established at Wind Cave, but the most noteworthy one was by the South Dakota Mining Company in 1890. J.D. McDonald was hired to manage the claim. The mine was unsuccessful, but McDonald and his family realized they could make money by giving cave tours and selling formations from the cave. They filed a homestead claim over the opening and worked on improving a manmade entrance and enlarging passageways for tours.

One of J.D.'s sons, Alvin, spent much of his time exploring and mapping the cave, faithfully keeping a diary and making a map of his findings. On January 23, 1891, Alvin wrote he had "given up finding the end of Wind Cave."

Stabler Family

In the summer of 1891, business was improving and more modifications to the cave were needed. A man known as "Honest John" Stabler formed a partnership with the McDonalds. The two families created the Wonderful Wind Cave Improvement Company. Cave passages were widened and wooden staircases were installed. A hotel was built near the cave entrance and a stagecoach provided rides to the cave.

Feuding

During the fall of 1893, J.D. and Alvin McDonald went to the Columbian Exposition in Chicago to advertise the cave. On the trip Alvin caught typhoid fever and was never really well again. He died that year at the age of 20. Shortly after Alvin's death, things began to go sour for the Wonderful Wind Cave Improvement Company.

The McDonalds accused the Stablers of keeping profits for themselves and demanded additional money. Meanwhile Peter Folsom had gained control of the mining claim on the cave. Folsom and the Stablers joined forces against the McDonalds in court with both sides trying to prove that the other party had no claim to the cave. In December 1899, the Department of the Interior decided that since no mining or proper homesteading had taken place, neither party had any legal claim to the cave. In 1901, the land around the cave was withdrawn from homesteading.

A National Park is Created

On January 3, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the bill creating Wind Cave National Park. It was the seventh national park and the first one created to protect a cave. The parklands at that time were small and there were no bison, elk, or pronghorn. They came later as the park boundaries expanded.

Game Preserve

In 1912, the American Bison Society was looking for a place to re-establish a bison herd. Because of the excellent prairie habitat around the park, a national game preserve was established bordering Wind Cave. It was managed by the U.S. Biological Survey. In 1913 and 1914, the animals began to arrive. Fourteen bison came from the New York Zoological Society, 21 elk arrived from Wyoming and 13 pronghorn came from Alberta, Canada.

Civilian Conservation Corps

Interest in the wildlife attracted more visitors to the park and additional improvements were necessary. Some improvements happened in the 1920s but the major work was accomplished by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The CCC camp was located in the park and operated from July 16, 1934 to October 3, 1939. Some of the projects they worked on can be seen today. These include roads, the entrance to the cave, concrete stairs in the cave, the elevator building and shaft, and other structures.

Wildlife Management

In July of 1935, the game preserve became part of Wind Cave National Park. During the early years of the preserve, the animals were kept in small enclosures. Eventually, it was realized that they needed more space. The bison and elk needed additional forage and the pronghorn needed room to escape from predators. With the help of the CCC, fences within the park were removed. And in 1946, 16,341 additional acres were added, enlarging the park to 28,059 acres.

During the 1950s and '60s, park wildlife was the focus of much attention. Because of the lack of large predators, like wolves and grizzly bears, the bison and elk herds had grown to the point where they were literally "eating themselves out of house and home." Park rangers began to evaluate the carrying capacity of the park. Carrying capacity is the number of animals that can exist in a habitat without damaging it. To solve the problem of overgrazing, the bison and elk herd sizes were reduced. Park rangers began an active program to manage the herd size. They began rounding up the animals and shipping the excess live from the park to other parks and reserves. Rangers also worked to improve the grassland by reseeding overgrazed areas with native grasses and controlling exotic plant species.

In the 1970s and '80s, managers continued to focus on caring for the wildlife and range land by building an understanding of how the natural systems should function. The reintroduction of fire as a natural means to improve the range and to limit the expansion of the forest onto the prairie was researched. An active fire program was started, with the first prescribed fire occurring in 1972.

While investigating the naturally operating systems, park managers realized that the cave is not an isolated environment. What happens on the land can and often does influence the cave. Understanding where cave passages are located in relation to the land above helps us avoid damaging the cave. For example, if the land is altered, it might change the way water travels through the cave and change cave formations. Exploration is important and is a continuous project with several miles of new cave being surveyed each year.

Wind Cave Today

The mission of Wind Cave National Park is to preserve and protect the natural resources. Wind Cave National Park is 28,295 acres. Because of its relatively small size and because there are missing parts, park managers must take an active role in helping the ecosystems function as they might have in the past. This requires understanding how everything in the park relates and how the naturally operating system would have functioned. Park rangers work with researchers to replicate that natural system using prescribed fires, bison and elk round-ups, and biological control of exotic plant species.

How we accomplish the mission of the park is determined by what we know about the park. The land, the animals, and the cave are all related and it is only when we understand the resources and their connections that we can best protect Wind Cave National Park.

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Reservation Information

Reservations & Permits

Cave Tours: Standard cave tours are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Reservations are taken for two specialty tours, the caving tour and the candlelight tour. Reservations for these tours may be made no more than one month in advance of the date. Those holding reservations must call to reconfirm within two days of arrival. Specialty tours are limited to 10 people. Minimum age for the caving tour is 16 and for the candlelight tour is 8.

Group Tours

Reservations are available for organized groups for standard cave tours to occur between the hours of 8 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. only. Groups are welcome to participate in regularly scheduled tours on a first-come, first-served basis. Tours are limited to 40 people. To reserve a group cave tour please contact the park at least three weeks prior to your visit by calling (605) 745-4600 or by writing to:

Wind Cave National Park
RR 1, Box 190-WCNP
Hot Springs, SD 57747-9430.

If your request is written, please include your phone number. You will receive written confirmation, if time allows. Reservations must be reconfirmed at least two days prior to arrival.

Group Campsite Reservations

Reservations are available only for large, organized groups. Small groups are invited to occupy individual sites that can accommodate up to eight people and two vehicles. These sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The campground rarely fills. Requests for group campsite reservations can be made by calling (605) 745-4600.

Backcountry Permits

All overnight backcountry campers must obtain and complete a backcountry use permit. These permits are free and can be acquired at the visitor center.

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