Embedded Files
Wind Cave Park Sign
I highly recommend you to please go read the previous blogs on our Black Hills Adventure to get caught up to where we are. We left Jewel Cave National Park and headed back to the east towards the town of Custer. Just before the town, we turned south on Highway 385 towards Wind Cave National Park. Eventually, the sign came up on the left for the entrance to the national park. I got out and took some pictures at the park sign, something that has become a tradition for me. This is my 19th national park, so I was super excited to add another park to my list. From here we headed to the park visitor center to get a stamp and go see the only discovered natural entrance to the cave.
We parked and got out. Both the cave and the park visitor center are close, but a ranger came out to talk to us anyways. I talked to the ranger about where the park’s bison herd likes to hang out. She told me that the herd likes to hang out in the backcountry of the park. The solitary males, bison that can no longer mate, like to hang out along highway 87. Luckily, the gift shop was open so we went in and got a passport stamp and looked at some of their merchandise. I also wanted to see the natural entrance of the cave which was just a short walk away. The trail followed the road then went down some steps and back towards the visitor center. I had seen videos of rangers holding up pieces of string to the natural entrance and the wind coming in and out of the cave would blow it around. I got down to the small entrance and took off my gator, sure enough the wind coming out of the cave started blowing my gator. I could feel the wind coming out of the cave, it was pretty powerful and really cool to feel. Mom got in the little area and put her head up to the entrance, making her hair blow everywhere.
Natural Entrance
Wind Cave Bison
On the way back to the natural entrance we saw some deer hanging out by the truck. This was our first wildlife sight of the night. We headed north towards Highway 87 passing by several prairie dog towns. Highway 87 is a scenic drive that goes over Beaver Creek on a beautiful large concrete arch bridge. The Highway has many pullouts with scenic overlooks of the prairie covered rolling hills. The road also has a pigtail turn where the road circles down and goes under a bridge where the road just was. Through some woods and meadows, we arrive at our turn-off for a backcountry road, just before Custer State Park. We went along Road 5 without seeing any bison. Just before we were going to turn around two massive bison were hanging out right next to the road.
We pulled over for a few minutes and just watched the bison. They are always amazing to see. On the way back to the main road we saw some more far from the road. Finally, getting back to the main road we headed just north and into Custer State Park. The park is famous for the Needles Highway and the Wildlife Loop. The Needles Highway is closed in the winter so we did the Wildlife Loop. We were continuing our search for the bison herds. We saw some more just as we were starting the loop, but had no luck. Instead, we saw the wild donkeys who came were looking for food. They were striking their faces in the window and looking around for food. There was a small traffic jam as the donkeys moved from one car to another. It was something new and really cool to see.
We headed to the park visitor center to stop and go to the bathroom before heading back to Rapid City. We took the long way back to town going through Custer, passing by Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore. The night before, we decided that we would eat at Que Pasa. By the time we got back we were starving. The food was excellent and the salsa was especially good. I would highly recommend it to anyone in town. That was the end of our day, we headed back to the hotel and got some rest. The next day we have our college tour and head all the way back to Kansas City.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse