Wind Cave

We set out for Wind Cave National Park from the Badlands, hoping/racing to get there in time for the last cave tour of the day. When we called early in the day to confirm information about tours, the ranger assured us that they always had plenty of room in the last few tours of the day; it rarely, if ever, sells out. Or so he told us.

We left the Badlands a little later than intended, and only upon our departure discovered the GPS ETA was nowhere close to (or concise as) our initial estimate. Adrienne, MVP driver, shaved off a few minutes here and there, and we called several times to the park to check on the remaining tickets. It looked like we would juuust make it.

Then our directions sent us down a narrow residential street... which turned into a narrow driveway... which led into a CEMETERY. I am not kidding. We wasted several minutes trying to backtrack/update our directions/continue to follow them with hesitant incredulity. The road wound with crazy hairpin curves through the cemetery and Age took it at a non-orthodox speed with all of us screaming in terror at the curves and Sarah England screaming, "DON'T SPEED IN A CEMETERY!!!" and all of us laughing and crying with laughter meanwhile watching the clock and shouting updates such as, "3 MINUTES!" while Candace yelled the updated GPS arrival times, "5 MINUTES!?" I'm sure we were a spectacle in those first few minutes (after the initial shock gave way, we did try to contain our energy in a place where reverence and respect is appreciated).

We finally figured out the directions were meaning for us to go through the cemetery and we found our way out of it and onto the connecting main road. We approached, then entered the park, pulled into the parking lot at the visitor's center, and I jumped out and ran inside breathless, only to meet Jess and Vanessa on their way out with the bad news—only one ticket left for the tour, i.e., not enough for our group of six.

So now with our need for urgency vanished, we walked through the visitor center, learned more about the cave winds, then followed the trail leading to the natural entrance to the caves, site of this supposed wind. After hopping down into the area immediately around the natural entrance, you can feel cool wind coming from the natural opening to the cave! It was a steady, forceful wind—so surprising that we could not contain our amazement, even after several turns each at the mouth letting the wind blow our clothes and our hair and muffle our voices in our attempted video recordings.

Everything I read about the Wind Cave NP online and in books (I love my National Geographic Guide to the National Parks!) had said that visitors who only visit the caves miss half of the park—the prairie aboveground is often overlooked despite its obvious presence. With this knowledge in hand, we checked in at the visitors center to become better acquainted with our above-ground hiking options.

The rangers recommended the Cold Brook Canyon Trail and after finally finding the trailhead we set out. The hike turned out to be so lovely—the prairie was so peaceful in the fading daylight—and we all were glad for the change of events that brought us there. We could hear so many unusual birdsongs and Candace had a knack for mimicking the prairie dogs, who would answer back to her (haha!). We didn't see any bison on the hike, but we did see their tracks (my foot alongside for size reference below). And we did spot a herd of bison grazing in a field on the drive home, so I didn't leave South Dakota disappointed!

Things don't always work out exactly as you plan them; sometimes they work out to be even better than planned. I had just finished reading "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" not long prior to our trip and lines from Annie Dillard kept running through my head as we hiked and drove and passed through the prairie.

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On a related note: one of my favorite Instagram accounts is the U.S. Department of the Interior, @usinterior. They post lots of photos of beautiful places all over the country, the Milky Way and other stunning night skies, and whoever runs their account loves baby animals as much as I do (baby foxes, baby moose, baby foxes, baby turtles, baby foxes, baby skunks) so really you can't go wrong.

p.s. the top photo was taken by Age—it captures that evening so perfectly.