Day Five - Wind Cave National Park

Hi All,

Sorry for being a day behind but the internet is spotty at the place we are staying. Yesterday, July 4th, we visited Wind Cave National Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We left Chadron NE early this morning and made the 1 hour drive north into South Dakota to Wind Cave National Park. Wind Cave NP is known for just that, a very large limestone cave. We got to the Visitor Center just after 8 a.m. and signed up for the 1:40 p.m. tour. In the mean time we had planned to go on a hike across some of the prairie the park is noted for. We set out on a loop trail, we figured was about 4-5 miles, with plenty of water, sunscreen, mosquito repellent and my trusty hand held GPS. The trail first took us across the prairie.

We saw all kinds of wildlife. At one point we observed a large herd of buffalo, grazing off in the distance. Then we came into an area where at first we thought was full of very loud birds but soon realized were in the middle of a prairie dog town. The critters were all around us. They reminded me of squirrels and appeared to be just as useful. Phyllis said she was ready to play Whack-A-Mole if she had a mallet. The holes to their tunnels were all over the place.

Anyway we moved on and headed out of the prairie down into a beautiful canyon. Phyllis who was in the lead suddenly stopped. I thought she saw a rattle snake, which are common in this region, but instead it was a rather large buffalo standing right in the middle of the trail, grazing away. It was no more than 10 yards ahead of us and was in no a hurry to move. We judged it would be most prudent to wait until it moved off the trail rather than get any closer and try to walk around it. After about 10 minutes it moved on enough for us to pass safely.

As we hiked along this trail we noticed the area was honeycombed with what turned out to buffalo paths. Many of these were as wide and clear as the trail we were following. Our trail was well marked for the most part. I say for the most part because we found a number of trail markers knocked over. Evidently they got in the way of buffalo. But you had to be careful to make sure you were on the trail and not a buffalo path. As we hiked along the canyon, the trail turned and seemed to go straight up the one side of the canyon. We dutifully followed it and really struggled to make it up the very steep slope. With a lot of huffing and puffing, we did make it and found ourselves out on the prairie again. However the trail seemed to vanish and no markers were in sight. You probably already guessed that we followed a buffalo path and not the trail. We later surmised that a trail marker was knocked over and we should have stayed down in the canyon. At this point it was starting to get hot and we had no desire to try to get back down path we had just followed. So using my GPS we set on a course back to the car straight across the prairie. Luckily I had created a waypoint at the car when we started out. The prairie has no landmarks and is quite featureless and I can see how one can get easily turned around. Using the GPS and after a bit of walking, we eventually were able to find the trail again which led us back to the car. We were hot and tired but we made it. We even had a bit of water left. Our little side trip probably added an hour on to the hike. Later we read that hiking off-trail across the prairie is permitted by the Park Service and is actually listed it a thing to try if you are so inclined. I wouldn't recommend it unless you were proficient in finding your way around.

After our jaunt, it was time for the cave tour. They took us down about 200 ft below the surface and we walked through the middle and upper levels of the cave. Wind Cave is a limestone cave, but lacks the stalagtites and stalagmites we were accustomed to seeing in other caves. As a result the cave tour was OK, but it was not one of the more interesting caves we have visited. The best part of the tour was that the cave temperature is a fairly constant 53 degrees. Phyllis and I were so hot from the hike that we walked through the cave in our thin shortsleeved hiking shirts while everyone else bundled up in jackets and sweatshirts. After the cave tour we headed for the Summer Creek Inn where we will be for the next four nights. Tomorrow, Badlands National Park.