Wind Cave National Park

Wind Cave National Park is a protected area with an extensive cave system in Custer County, in southwestern South Dakota. The passages run through limestone layers beneath prairie hills and form chambers with different mineral structures visible under electric lighting.

Theodore Roosevelt designated this place as the first underground national park in the United States and the sixth overall in 1903. Local settlers had discovered the cave entrance in the late 19th century through wind currents flowing from small openings in the ground.

The Lakota call this place Washun Niya and regard it as the spot where people first emerged onto the earth according to their oral tradition. Tours mention the connection between the cave and the surrounding grassland, which the Plains tribes consider part of the same origin story.

Rangers lead groups through the cave throughout the year, with tours varying in length and difficulty depending on age and fitness of participants. On the surface above, trails cross grassland and forest where bison and other animals often appear.

The cave holds nearly all known boxwork formations on the planet, delicate calcite webs that look like honeycomb and formed when softer rock eroded around harder veins. Air flows in or out depending on outside pressure, which is why early explorers were drawn to wind whistling from the ground.

Location: Custer County

Inception: 1903

Operator: National Park Service

Website: https://nps.gov/wica

GPS coordinates: 43.55635,-103.47865

Latest update: December 12, 2025 18:12