Located in southwest South Dakota, Wind Cave was established in 1903 making it the first cave to be protected as a national park. Wind cave has only one natural entrance that has been discovered. With only one entrance the cave is greatly affected by the outside air pressure. From the natural entrance you can sometimes feel and hear the strong winds due to the change in air pressure outside. This is how wind cave was initially discovered by White Americans, after two men had their hats blown off when staring into the cave. Wind Cave is also know for its elaborate boxwork — thin fins made of calcite — that line a good portion of the cave. Scientists predict that Wind Cave has 95% of the world's boxwork. As of 2024 around 166 miles of cave have been explored and they are still discovering new sections.

The only way to actually explore the cave is to go on one of the various cave tours offered. Tours can be booked through recreation.gov or in person at the visitor center. During the busy summer season cave tours can book up 1 to 2 hours before so I recommend booking online ahead of time. As someone who likes to make sure that we actually can get onto any tour that I am interest in, I always try to book way in advanced even during off seasons. There are multiple tours for a range of abilities.

We visited Wind Cave in March so we went on the Garden of Eden and Fairgrounds Tour. I wanted to see as much of the cave as we could so I chose to go on the two that were available. I very much enjoyed both of the tours. I felt that the Garden of Eden gave a great introduction to the cave and its various features. This was also not too strenuous. The Fairgrounds Tour gives you an opportunity to see even more of the cave, but is a lot more of a climb than Garden of Eden.

While the Cave itself might be the main attraction, the ground above is a beautiful natural environment as well. Above the cave is sprawling grasslands with some Ponderosa Pines throughout the fields. The various trails that are available allow you to see more of this incredible prairie land that you cannot see from the road. Some trails that you can hike include:

Elk Mountain: 1 mile

Wind Cave Canyon: 1.8 miles

Centennial: 6 miles

Highland Creek: 8.6 miles

While the cave is relatively quiet because there are no living beings underneath, above ground it is a very different story. At wind cave you have a chance to see Bison, Elk, Deer, Coyotes, Pronghorn, and several bird species. Also to my excitement (sorry I am from Florida) there were also prairie dogs. Near the visitor center there is a pretty large Prairie Dog town where you can see these cute animals running and barking all over.

There are a few different places to stay when visiting Wind Cave. The most central place to stay for not just Wind Cave, but also Jewel Cave and Custer State Park is Custer, South Dakota. Custer is only 20 minutes away from Wind Cave and has plenty of places to stay and eat. If you want to stay closer to the park you can find a place at Hot Springs, South Dakota which is about 10 minutes away. For our stay we found a place out in Hill City because it was slightly cheaper when we were visiting. Hill City is slightly north of Custer and about 40 minutes away from the park. Another option is Rapid City. This is a much larger city, which means more amenities, but it is an hour away.