A national park in the United States, Wind Cave National Park is situated 10 miles (16 km) north of the town of Hot Springs in western South Dakota’s Badlands region. On January 3, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt declared it the seventh national park in the United States, and it was also the first cave to be designated as a national park anywhere in the world. The cave is recognized for its calcite box work formations, as well as its frostwork, which is unique to the cave. Wind Cave is home to around 95 percent of the world’s box work formations, which have been discovered. The cave is often regarded as the world’s densest cave system, having the biggest amount of channel volume per cubic mile of space. According to the most recent available data, Wind Tunnel is the seventh longest underground in the world, with 154.2 miles of investigated cave passages, and the third-longest cave in the United States. Above ground, the park has the biggest surviving natural mixed-grass prairie in the United States, which is found nowhere else in the world.
Bison, elk, and other species may be seen roaming the sweeping prairie grasslands and wooded slopes of one of America’s oldest national parks, which was established in 1872. Wind Cave, one of the world’s longest and most complex cave systems, is located under the last remaining island of pristine grassland. This labyrinth of tubes, named after the barometer winds that blow through it at its entrance, is home to box work, a unique creation that is seldom seen anywhere else.
Entrances and how to reach the Wind Cave National Park
On the north side of U.S. Highway 385, 11 miles north of Hot Springs, the Visitor Center is situated approximately 1/2 mile west of the highway. If you use your GPS to locate the tourist center, you will get disoriented and lose your way. Many GPS devices will direct you to the park visitor center, which is located north of State Road 87. The Visitor Center is located at the following coordinates: N43 33 22″ W103 28 38″.
Direct routes from Rapid City:
- Route 79 south for roughly 50 miles until you reach U.S. Route 385.
- Take a right onto U.S. Route 385 North, and follow it into the town of Hot Springs.
- Continue north on U.S. Highway 385 for another 6 miles until you reach Wind Cave National Park.
- Once you’ve arrived at the park, follow the signs to the visitor center, where you may take cave tours and learn more about the site.
From Rapid City, traveling through the Black Hills:
- Follow U.S. Highway 16 south and west until it intersects with U.S. Highway 385.
- Take a left on US Hwy 385 south to Hill City, then continue south to Custer City on the other side of the highway. The park is located about 20 miles south of Custer, South Dakota, off of U.S. Highway 385.
- Once you’ve arrived at the park, follow the signs to the visitor center, where you may take cave tours and learn more about the site.
From the western part of Nebraska:
- To get to the park, take U.S. Highway 385 north via Hot Springs, South Dakota.
- Once you’ve arrived at the park, follow the signs to the visitor centre, where you may take cave tours and learn more about the site.
Custer State Park is accessible through the following routes:
- Wind Cave National Park may be reached by taking State Road 87 south.
- Once you’ve arrived at the park, follow the signs to the visitor center, where you may take cave tours and learn more about the site.
Public Transportation
There is no public transportation available in or around the park.
By Plane
Plane Rapid City, South Dakota is the closest commercial airport.