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In the Black Hills of the American Rockies, sixty
million years of erosion have created a honeycomb of tunnels
and caves.
The Wind Caves contains within its winding labyrinth
some 82 miles of caves and tunnel, so called because winds
can get up to about 70 miles per hour inside. Floaty chiffon
dresses not recommended here, in the heart of geological creation.
It was found by Tom Bingham around 1881. As he was
walking past his hat blew off, and he found a hole which he
decided to investigate. What he saw was a myriad of unexplored
rock caves and structures, all made of limestone.
The caves are the sixth longest in the world. For a $10 entry
fee you can get a guided tour of the main caverns but there
are still miles of unexplored parts to be discovered by experienced
cavers. There are various cave tours for explorers of all
ages and experience at the Wind Cave National Park, like evening
campfire talks at the Elk Mountain Ampitheatre,
or Candlelight Tours (a two hour tour of the less developed
parts of the cave. Candle bucket required!), or the scenic
Garden of Eden tour which doesn't involve any climbing.
The caves are famous for their box work formation,
so called because the early tourists thought it looked like
the old post office boxes they had in the 1800s. The Wind
Caves have more boxwork than any other cave in the world,
a huge variety of rare formations and some of the largest
concentrations of passageways in the world. It is also one
of the oldest cave structures you will ever find.
Above ground, the Wind Cave national park is a vast mixed-grass
prairie and ponderosa pine forest and 30 miles of hiking trails.
Nearby in the black hills you can also explore the Jewel
Cave, 13 miles west of Custer. It is the third-longest
cave in the world, named after the glittering calcite crystals
that illuminate the vast interior, lighting it up like an
Aladdin’s Cave. |
