Park Number: 25/63

First Visited: July 17, 2011

Despite being the seventh established U.S. national park, and the first cave to be a national park in the world, Wind Cave often gets overshadowed by other landmarks in the region: The Badlands, Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills. This is unfortunate considering there are many unique and prominent features about this park, including 95% of the world’s discovered boxwork formations and, above ground, the largest mixed grass prairie in the United States.

I’ve found that when visiting multiple caves, they all start to look the same, but Wind Cave is certainly worth a stop, especially if you’re already in the area, because the boxwork structures are truly a sight to see.

Wind Cave is a culturally significant and sacred site to the Lakota and Cheyenne, and to many other tribes that traveled the area.