Garden of Eden Tour - Wind Cave National Park

In my opinion, a trip to Wind Cave National Park is not complete without a cave tour. However, tickets for cave tours are sold on a first-come, first-served basis at the visitor center on the day of the tour. In our case, this meant waiting in line outside one cold morning for the visitor center to open. We were hoping to get tickets for the first Natural Entrance Tour, but ended up with mid-morning tickets to the Garden of Eden Tour as the Natural Entrance Tour was sold out by the time we reached the ticket counter. The Garden of Eden Tour is the same tour as our previous visit in August 2017. I posted about that tour here. The tour lasts one hour and is the least strenuous tour offered at just one-third mile long and 150 steps. Due to COVID-19, face masks are required of all visitors regardless of vaccination status. We visited in May 2021.

There is no entrance fee at Wind Cave National Park. There is a fee to tour the cave.

The Wind Cave National Park website is https://www.nps.gov/wica/index.htm.

Landscapes - Wind Cave National Park

Continuing our May 2021 visit to Wind Cave National Park, we drove the paved roads in the park from Rankin Ridge in the north on South Dakota 87 to Gobbler Ridge in the south on US 385, stopping to take images of the landscape at several spots along the way.

There is no entrance fee at Wind Cave National Park. There is a fee to tour the cave.

The Wind Cave National Park website is https://www.nps.gov/wica/index.htm.

Wildlife - Wind Cave National Park

Besides the large cave complex, Wind Cave National Park is known for its wildlife on the surface. We saw numerous birds, bison, and prairie dogs while driving along the park roads. In addition, we saw one coyote.

American Bison (Bison bison)

Nosing around at a bison wallow

Bison and brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater)

Bison grazing in a prairie dog town

Black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus)

A small herd of bison settling in for the evening

Another prairie dog

Coyote (Canis latrans)

Roadside grazing

There is no entrance fee at Wind Cave National Park. There is a fee to tour the cave.

The Wind Cave National Park website is https://www.nps.gov/wica/index.htm.

Prairie Vista Trail - Wind Cave National Park

Wind Cave National Park was our second stop on our May 2021 trip to the Dakotas and Montana. Our first activity at the park was to hike the Prairie Vista Trail. This easy, one-mile loop trail can be accessed from either the rear of the visitor center or from the small picnic area about 1000 feet north of the visitor center. We chose to start at the picnic area and hiked the loop in the clockwise direction.

Starlily (Leucocrinum montanum)

The trail

Prairie

Prickly pear

One of several support buildings near the visitor center

Looking back toward the visitor center complex

One of the administrative buildings

Prairie isn't always flat and devoid of trees

Prairie

More prairie

A sparrow on the trail

Fence keeps the bison out of the visitor center complex

Prairie and trees

More prairie in the Black Hills

Prairie vista

Elevator building

Visitor Center

Visitor Center road and parking area

Path across the prairie

Another park service building nearly hidden in the trees

More prairie

Looking back at the hill we are descending

There is no entrance fee at Wind Cave National Park. There is a fee to tour the cave.

The Wind Cave National Park website is https://www.nps.gov/wica/index.htm.