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Cave Tours At Wind Cave National Park Resume Saturday

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By NPT Staff - March 19th, 2021
Cave tours return to Wind Cave National Park on Saturday/NPS file

Tours of Wind Cave, with its unique "boxwork" formations, resume Saturday at the national park of the same name/NPS file

After nearly two years of being shut down, tours of Wind Cave at Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota are set to resume Saturday.

Elevator problems in July 2019 forced tours to be halted, and then the coronavirus pandemic prevented tours from resuming last year. But now park staff say tours will resume Saturday, albeit with smaller groups allowed in at one time.

Tour sizes will be limited by 50 percent to allow for social distancing in the cave. Masks will also be required in the visitor center, while in the cave, and outside if people are closer than six feet.

Tours of the seventh-longest cave in the world will be offered at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. this spring, with an expanded schedule as summer approaches. To avoid disturbing hibernating bats in the cave’s Walk-In Entrance, all tours initially will enter and exit the cave via elevator.

Tickets are first come, first served on the day of the tour. Visitors are encouraged to arrive early to purchase tickets because of the limited number of spaces available. The cave is a constant 54 degrees. A light sweater or jacket is recommended, as are good walking shoes.

White-nose syndrome (WNS) was detected in South Dakota (Custer County) in 2018 and confirmed in Wind Cave earlier this month. To help protect bats from WNS, it is important that you decontaminate your caving and hiking gear and boots after visiting any cave, or use gear that has never been used in WNS-affected areas. All cave tour participants will be required to walk across a mat containing hydrogen peroxide to kill any fungus on their shoes that could inadvertently spread WNS to other areas. Visit www.whitenosesyndrome.org for more information.

Wind Cave is world famous for a calcite cave formation called boxwork (top photo), which is seen along all its tour routes. Wind Cave has more boxwork than all the rest of the world’s caves combined.

Unfortunately, elevator woes persist at nearby Jewel Cave National Monument. Officials hope the repairs will be done by summer. To learn more about the two caves, and how they actually might be connected, read this story from Traveler's archives.

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