Fairgrounds Tour in Wind Cave National Park – South Dakota
Wind Cave National Park, like most caves, is incredibly hard to photograph and film due to the whole darkness thing, but here is our experience through our eyes! Although the Fairgrounds tour isn’t very long, it offers a TON of features and if your guide is as good as ours, you will learn a thing or two as well.
Parking
Just like most National Parks, Wind Cave National Park is no exception when it comes to getting there early for your best chances at a parking spot anywhere near the entrance. All of the cave tours for Wind Cave National Park start out by the visitor center, so if that is your purpose of visiting, may want to try to head over early.
There are also quite a few trails above ground you can check out as well while visiting. Those mostly seemed to be pullouts rather than huge parking lots, but at the same time the competition for those spots will be much lower. Oddly enough, most people going to a National Park with the word cave in it, are often there to go inside the cave.
Fairgrounds Tour
I’ll be the first to admit that the Fairgrounds Tour wasn’t really our first choice. Ever since visiting Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky we have been wanting to get on a Candle Light Tour. However, still no dice as the weather and timing just didn’t work out for us this time around.
However, out of all the remaining tours they had left, the Fairgrounds Tour was our 2nd pick due to everything you get to see along the tour.
Although they do label this cave tour as strenuous, it really isn’t all that hard compared to the cave tours we had in Mammoth Cave National Park. There are definitely some stairs involved and it’ll probably get your blood pumping, but if you are reasonably in shape you won’t have any issues here.
On most tours throughout Wind Cave National Park you will probably come across some box work cave formations, but this tour definitely boasts quite a few awesome views. Again, we tried to film and capture it on photos but to truly see the amazing natural work of art, see it for yourself.
Just like Mammoth Cave National Park, the bat population has mostly died off due to white-nose syndrome. Wind Cave itself also isn’t a great place for bats to chill because often the air pressure changes (wind being generated) can make it hard for bats to maneuver in and out.
Our Favorite Part Of Wind Cave National Park
I think our favorite part of Wind Cave National Park compared to Cathedral Caverns and Mammoth Cave National Park was the unique box work formations. I’m sure most will say the same thing, but it really is something else when you see it in person. It really is crazy what nature is capable of creating over millions of years.
Costs of Wind Cave National Park
Although the entrance to Wind Cave National Park is free in itself, the cave tours will still cost about $10 per adult regardless if you have the National Parks pass or not. We still think it is totally worth it and would recommend it to anyone that enjoys caves or just has a knack for exploring.
OTHER “NEARBY” ADVENTURES
Scotts Bluff National Monument
Favorite Hike at Rocky Mountain National Park
Alluvial Fan Rocky Mountain National Park
NOTE FROM WRITER
If you enjoyed this blog post or the video to go along with it, feel free to share it with your friends. You can find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our channel’s RSS feed via the subscribe button on the sidebar. If you have any questions or comments go ahead and leave them below and we will try our best to get back to you! Thanks for reading/watching!
Also be sure to check out Deanna’s food blog, The Harvest Skillet, when you get the chance! A lot of awesome and healthy recipes to use there!
Adventure On!
