Native Americans have known about Wind Cave for generations and consider the area sacred. The oral history of the Lakota claims the natural entrance to the cave as the place where its people emerged from the earth.
In 1881, settlers Tom and Jesse Bingham are credited with finding the 12 by 10 inch natural entrance, but did not explore it further. In 1890, the South Dakota Mining Company hired J.D. McDonald as manager of Wind Cave. J.D.'s son Alvin explored the cave from then until his death in 1893. As the natural passage was too small to offer commercial tours of the mine, the McDonalds blasted a larger entrance into the cave nearby. This man-made entrance is now used by the park service for the popular Natural Entrance Tour.
We visited in August 2017.
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| Rear of visitor center |
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| Ramp |
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| Bridge |
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| Parking area retaining wall |
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| American Robin (Turdus migratorius) on the concrete path |
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| American Robin perched on a branch |
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| Natural entrance |
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| Closer view |
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| Sacred emergence site of the Lakota Nation |
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| Walk-in entrance |
Entry to Wind Cave National Park is free. Cave tours require a fee of $10 to $30 per adult depending on the tour. Prices are reduced for children and seniors. Tickets for the current day tours are sold at the visitor center on a first-come, first-served basis.
The park website is https://www.nps.gov/wica.
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