• Wind Cave National Park - Two Worlds

    Wind Cave

    National Park South Dakota

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  • Elk Mountain Campground Closed

    The Elk Mountain Campground is closed and will remain closed through the summer of 2013 due to across the board budget cuts.

Things To Do

Cave Tour in the Assembly Room

Cave Tour in the Assembly Room

NPS Photo by Mike Landrum

The Visitor Center open daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Days. The Visitor Center contains three exhibit rooms featuring cave exploration, cave formations, early cave history, the Civilian Conservation Corps, park wildlife, and resource management. An 18-minute movie; Wind Cave: One Park, Two Worlds; is shown throughout the day.

Cave Tours are offered daily throughout the year except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. The cave temperature is 53 degrees at all times of the year. A jacket or sweater and good walking shoes are recommended.

All cave tours leave from the visitor center. Stop in at the visitor center for information, cave tours, exhibits, slide and video programs, maps, books, backcountry permits, Senior and Access Passports, and Annual Park Passes. The visitor center and the cave are accessible to people with disabilities, please inquire at the visitor center.

Wind Cave National Park protects two very different worlds; one deep within the earth, the other a sunlit world of many resources. Exploring any of the 30 miles of hiking trails, one of the three nature trails, or just hiking cross-country gives visitors the opportunity to experience the amazing prairie and forest worlds of the park.

Living within the park are many different types of animals. Driving the park roads or hiking the trails provides the opportunity to see bison, prairie dogs, pronghorn or many of the different birds living here.

The Elk Mountain Campground is closed this year.

Did You Know?

A picture of Alvin McDonald in his caving hat.

Alvin McDonald was the first systematic explorer of Wind Cave.  He explored the cave from 1890 until his death in 1893. More...