Wind Cave: the cave that breathes, sacred to the Lakota

In the southern Black Hills, a small hole in the ground blows air out or sucks it in, depending on the weather. Behind it lies one of the longest and most complex caves in the world: more than 260 km of passages, tangled together beneath an area the size of a village. Above it is a prairie where bison graze.

History and origins

For the Lakota, this opening is a sacred place: it’s through here that the first people, and the bison, came out of the earth. In 1881, two brothers heard a whistling sound and saw their hat blown off above the hole. A teenager, Alvin McDonald, then spent years exploring the cave by candlelight, unrolling a ball of string to find his way back.

In 1903, Theodore Roosevelt made it a national park. It was the first cave in the world to be given that status. Ten years later, bison were brought back here, at a time when the species had almost disappeared.

What to do there

• The cave: it has few stalactites, but a formation you see almost nowhere else: “boxwork”, thin blades of calcite that intersect like the cells of a honeycomb. Almost all the known boxwork in the world is here.
• The tours: all guided, lasting one to two hours, with more or fewer steps. The shortest passes the natural entrance, where you can feel the cave breathing.
• The candlelight tour: in an unlit section, each person with their own lantern, like the first explorers.
• The prairie: roads and trails cross hills of grass and pines. You see bison, elk, pronghorn and whole towns of prairie dogs.
• Rankin Ridge: a short loop to the highest point in the park, with a view as far as the Badlands in clear weather.

Stories and good to know

• The wind at the entrance can exceed 100 km/h. It equalises the pressure between the cave and the outside.
• The bison of Wind Cave are among the few herds with no cross-breeding with domestic cattle.
• Judging by measurements of the airflow, only a small part of the cave has been explored.

Practical information for your road trip

• Getting there: the park is 15 minutes from the town of Hot Springs and an hour from Rapid City.
• Clothing: a jacket and closed shoes for the cave.
• Where to stay: in Hot Springs or Custer. The park has a campground.
• Combine it with: Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore and the Badlands.