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Wind Cave National Park
Ten miles north of Hot Springs on US 385, Wind Cave National Park covers 28,295 acres in the Black Hills. Wind Cave, discovered in 1881, was formed in one of the vast limestone layers underlying much of the area. Strong wind currents that blow alternately in and out of the cave suggested its name; they are caused by changes in atmospheric pressure.
The present entrance to the cave, an artificial one, leads to a long, winding passageway that opens into corridors and galleries decorated with unusual boxwork and frostwork formations that are illuminated by indirect light.
At the edge of the Great Plains, the park is a biome composed of a natural mixture of plant and animal species indigenous to several larger regions. The park is about 75 percent prairie grassland and 25 percent forest.
Such large mammals as bison, deer, elk and pronghorn antelope can be seen from the main park road. Prairie dogs and rabbits are a common sight, while coyotes, porcupines, eagles, owls and wild turkeys are spotted occasionally. Do not approach the wildlife; bison are wild and unpredictable. Hunting is prohibited.
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