Wind Cave National Park — The Cave

On our first day in the Black Hills, we headed to Wind Cave National Park. We wanted to beat the crowds, but just missed the first tour of the day, which meant that we had to loiter around the visitor center for about an hour. That’s where I learned that caving at the “turn of the century” involved wearing a long dress and staring at cave walls from four inches away. Presumably, they’re not referring to the most recent turn of the century.

We took the Natural Entrance Tour with 38 other people. I found the name rather ironic, since this the entrance we used.

The real natural entrance was nearby. It wasn’t much bigger than the hole in the seat of a normal toilet. For perspective, I took a photo with part of my shoe next to the hole (of the cave, not a toilet).

Wind Cave got its name because, depending on the barometric pressure, air rushes either in or out of the hole. On the day we were there, our guide held a strip of ribbon over the entrance to show that the air was rushing in. Sometimes, we were told, it rushes so fast that it makes a whooshing noise, but not, alas, on this day.

Wind Cave is thought to be the fifth longest cave in the world. About 150 miles of passages have been explored, but studies indicate that perhaps as much as 95% is still undiscovered. This sounds more impressive than it is. The passages aren’t linear — they’re interwove in several levels. Think of a pile of Pick-Up Sticks and imagine the sticks themselves are the cave passages and the spaces between them are rock. It’s more like that. The entire 150 miles of known passage all fit under a square mile of surface area.

The cave is known primarily for its “boxwork” formations. We were told that the stuff of these formations wasn’t formed on the walls of the cave but instead filled cracks in rocks. When the rocks dissolved, the harder boxwork material remained. The cave also features a formation known as “popcorn” caused by minerals dripping through the walls.

Our tour took an hour and a half and covered a half-mile of cave. Most of the way was through narrow, low passages. We had to walk in single file and there wasn’t much time to stop and look at the surroundings. Which was OK because the surroundings were pretty much just boxwork and popcorn. There were only three spots on the tour where the cave opened up enough for all of us to gather, and at each of these spots the guide would talk about the discovery and exploration of the cave, the geological formation or conservation for the future. It was interesting enough, but if you’re only going to tour one cave in the Black Hills, make it Jewel Cave — there’s a lot more variety. Wind Cave wasn’t a cave tour so much as it was an underground hike.

This is boxwork.

So’s this.

Here’s a close-up.

Here’s popcorn. Kinda looks like mold.

And here, to mix things up a bit, is popcorn on boxwork.

The passageways mostly looked like this.

Here’s one of the spots where the cave opened up a bit. There isn’t much to see except boxwork. And popcorn.

Here’s our guide. He was enthusiastic and pleasant. He’s shining his flashlight on some writing on the wall. He explained that it was a survey mark from an exploration of the cave done in 1902 (I think.) He said the National Park Service took over the next year and any writing done on the walls after that date is called something else — a federal offense.

As with every cave tour I’ve ever been on — probably 15 or so in my life — there comes a point when the guide turns off the lights to show what it’s like when you’re in a cave with no lights.

It’s dark.

There are so many passages in Wind Cave that undiscovered places exist close to the tour routes that people have been using for 100+ years. A few years back, an exploration was moving through a new passage when they heard someone talking. They looked up through a narrow hole and saw one of the guides from the tour we were taking looking back at them.

Here’s some more boxwork with a bit of popcorn.

And here am I after the tour outside the visitor center with no boxwork or popcorn to be seen.

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