The Fairgrounds Cave Tour At Wind Cave National Park

Wind Cave National park is located near Hot Springs, South Dakota and was established on January 9, 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt. It was the sixth national park established in the United States and the first cave to be designated a national park anywhere in the world.

Wind Cave is one of the longest and most complex cave systems in the world.

It was named for the barometric winds that naturally blow in and out of the small natural entrance to the cave. The cave is famous for its honeycomb-shaped calcite formations, known as boxwork, which are rarely found anywhere else in the world.

There are five different cave tours offered at the park.

The Candlelight and Wild Cave tours were not available in 2020 and 2021 (I’m assuming because of the pandemic) and no times have been listed on their website for this year yet either. The tours that are running though are the Garden of Eden tour, Natural Entrance tour and Fairgrounds tour.

Not all tours are available throughout the year and times for tours change with the season. You can get a tentative tour schedule here, but times are subject to change.

Tickets for cave tours are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

Tours often sell out March through October and on holiday weekends so I suggest you arrive early to purchase tickets. We got there about 30 minutes before the visitor center opened and waited in line.

Beginning February 24, 2022, a portion of tour tickets will be available for advanced purchase through recreation.gov, just in case you are more of a planner than a fly by your seat kinda person like we are.

If you don’t get a ticket for the time you want you can take a hike in the park instead or check out the visitor center exhibits to kill some time. There are some great hikes in the park and the visitor center has some excellent displays.

We decided to do the Fairgrounds cave tour which was the longest and most strenuous one. The tour covered a  2/3 mile route of the cave and lasted approximately 1½ hours. The tour enters and exits the cave by elevator and there are a total of 450 steps.

I know that seems like a lot of steps, but during the tour it really didn’t seem that bad. One section of the tour does include you having to walk up 89 stairs at once though so keep that in mind before booking your ticket.

During the tour you get to travel through both the upper and middle levels of the cave.

At the beginning of the trail you will get to see a lot of the boxwork formations that the cave is famous for. This cool looking formation is abundant all along the trail in the middle level of the cave so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to admire it.

Once you reach the upper level of the cave you will be winding your way through larger rooms. During this part of the trail you will encounter many popcorn and frostwork cave formations which are pretty cool too.

All cave tours are ranger-guided and our ranger did an excellent job.

At many times throughout the tour we would stop to check out a unique formation or get a history lesson on the cave. During one of these stops all light sources were cut off and we got to sit in the complete darkness of the cave for a full minute.

It was terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time!

If you’re in the area and love a good cave I highly recommend taking a tour at Wind Cave National Park. We had a great time and learned a lot. We are really hoping next time we are in the area they have the Candlelight tours running again, because we really want to do that one.

Also, my camera takes horrible pictures when we are inside caves so sorry for the quality. I guarantee you the cave is much cooler than my photos portray.

Make sure you are prepared for the adventure before booking a ticket though.

Trail surfaces may be uneven, wet and slippery at times. There are numerous stairs and some of them are steep. Cave trails are dimly lighted and some of the cave ceilings are low requiring you to bend or stoop down in some areas.

Be sure to wear proper footwear and you may want to bring a light jacket, because the average temperature of the cave is around 53° F. With all that being said if you’re careful and properly prepared you should have a lot of fun.