Wind Cave - Wind Cave National Park, Custer, South Dakota
Posted by: 
Hikenutty
N 43° 33.299 W 103° 28.602
13T E 623039 N 4823575
Wind Cave is one of the longest, most complex maze-cave systems in the world and contains an amazing amount of the rare formation called boxwork.
Waymark Code: WM12Q6
Location: South Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 12/27/2006
Views: 87
Wind Cave has always been a world class natural resource. However, it was not until explorers first entered, and then continued to push further underground, that the significance of Wind Cave began to be realized.
The entrance to this cave is covered by a wonderful building constructed by the National Park Service in 1938 with the help of the CCC. It is constructed of native stone and timber and has an elevator that takes people down to the entrance to the cave. At the entrance when the door opens a whoosh of air either blows out or sucks in depending on the difference in air pressure between the cave and outside.
When most people think about the importance of Wind Cave they tend to dwell on boxwork and the cave's vast length. Over many years of exploration and mapping, Wind Cave has grown to be one of the world's largest known caves. Currently over 122.09 miles [196.48 km] of passages have been mapped in Wind Cave. This places Wind Cave as the third longest cave in the United States and fourth longest cave in the world.
Although the cave is most famous for its boxwork, it also has helictite bushes, quartz rinds, logomites, hydromagnesite ballons, dogtooth and nailhead spar, quartz, christmas trees, button popcorn, sawtooth flowstone, gypsum luster, flowers, starbursts, and hair and conulites.
Type of Land: National Park
Managed By: US National Park Service
Contact Info: 605-745-4600 = visitor information
Website: [Web Link]
Type of Cave: Karst Cave
Contains Stalactites: no
Contains Stalagmites: no
Contains Bats: no
Price of Admission: 10.00 (listed in local currency)
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Visit Instructions:
Please include a digital photograph of the cave which documents your visit and any information that may be helpful for future visitors.