Wind Cave National Park

Day 3 of our visit to Custer State Park and the surrounding area had us heading over to Wind Cave National Park.  Posie the pig had been pouting, since we had forgotten her several times and left her in the truck while we explored and did our thing.  She was grateful to Ron and Patty, who reminded me to pose her in front of the visitor's sign.

The natural opening to Wind Cave was found in 1881 by two ranchers, Tom and Jesse Bingham.  By the late 1890's, it was already becoming a tourist attraction and a hotel was erected right near the hole's location.  The South Dakota Mining Company had bought the mining rights to the land in 1889 and hired the McDonald Family to run it.  However, a dispute between the Stahler and the McDonald families went to court, and they both lost.  The government wound up with the land.

This resulted in President Roosevelt adding another national park under his belt in 1903.

 We were lucky enough to get tickets for the last tour of the day.  As we were sitting there, waiting for it to begin, we heard the office staff telling the other tourists that the tours were all full, and to come back another day.  All the staff commented on how unusually busy it was this week and not having enough people to lead tours.  All the college age people that led tours during the summer had returned back to school.

Down we went, following the ranger, into the 53 degree cave.

 The Civilian Conservation Corps built most of the steps and pathways inside the cave in the 1930's as well as the visitor center and surrounding buildings.  The steps up and down inside the cave were steep, with many puddles of water to try and avoid.  Even the rails were cold and wet.  I was thankful for the sweater and long pants that I was wearing, although you can see in the picture below that some people came in shorts, short sleeves and flip flops!  What were they thinking?!

One of the most common formations in this cave is called boxwork since it looks like little cardboard boxes.  It's unlikely you'll see this in any other cave, since 95% of the boxwork is at Wind Cave.

Our tour last approximately an hour and a half.  However, there are other different tours.  One that we will NEVER take is the Wild Cave Tour.  That takes 4 hours, and you have to crawl on your hands and knees or stoop for most of it.  The park provides kneepads, hard hats and lights.  I think our grandchildren would love it.  Personally, crawling in cold, wet, damp and dreary places is not my cup of tea.

After the tour was over, Ron, Patty and I headed over to the hole that was originally found in 1881.  It's not large, and you can't see very far down.  I can't imagine being one of those brave ranchers going into the unknown.  The wind was flowing outward that day, which you could tell by just standing near it.

If there is a high pressure in the area, the air outside is sucked in as the cave tries to equalize the pressure, and vice versa.  That concludes our science lesson for today.  Happy spelunking!