Wind Cave National Park has much more to offer than just a breezy cave.
In my last post, I explored the cave portion of the gorgeous Wind Cave National Park. Now let’s explore topside.
Above ground, Wind Cave has some of the largest remaining mixed-grass prairie in the country. This prairie is home to a herd of bison, elk, pronghorns, black-footed ferrets, and my favorite, prairie dogs. So many cute prairie dogs. Patches of ponderosa pine forests and meadows also cross the landscape. I just found the park gorgeous, and I ended up hiking a bit too much in one day. I even returned the next morning to do another trail since Wind Cave is very close to Custer State Park where I was staying.
I had a little bit of time to kill before my cave tour. Luckily, there was a nice short nature trail nearby, the Prairie Vista Trail.
As the name suggests, you do get some prairie views.
After the cave tour, the first trail I hiked was the Wind Cave Canyon Trail.
The trail is an old forest road, which makes it an easy hike.
Just a touch of fall color.
It’s a very shallow canyon.
The old road climbs out of the canyon to a nice little meadow. I’m not sure exactly where the trail ends. I turned around on the other side of this meadow.
On the way back, I spotted two male bison hanging out near the trail.
After hiking the previous trail, I took a break by visiting some of the park overlooks. It didn’t take me long to find this cutie.
Endless prairie and a very weird looking cloud. I thought it was something wrong with the photo or something, but that cloud was in multiple pictures.
If you look closely, you may be able to see a dark dot in the middle of the photo. That’s another bison.
On a whim, I decided to do a longer trail that I hadn’t planned on doing, but I’m very glad I hiked the Lookout Point Loop.
I headed counterclockwise on the loop from the parking lot. The trail starts out in the grassland, heading toward a stream. The trail is full of poison ivy. I swear the only thing I am not allergic to is poison ivy. I suggest wearing pants on this trail.
The trail heads into a hillier area, but not too hilly.
Quite a nice view of the prairie.
And where there is prairie, there’s prairie dogs! It’s protecting an entrance to the tunnels that make up a prairie dog town.
The trail goes right through the prairie dog town.
A herd of bison very far off in the distance.
The Black Hills off in the distance.
The trail eventually leads into a canyon of sorts. This was my favorite part of the trail.
A long skinny meadow at the bottom of the canyon. Or maybe it’s a valley?
One of the sides of the canyon looks very canyon-like but the other side makes it look like a valley.
Deciduous trees line the banks of another stream. They are just starting to change colors here.
Dramatic cliffs on one side.
I had heard the sound of water trickling, so I went to go investigate. The stream actually flows underground here, like a reverse spring. I believe the spot where the stream is called a “swallow hole.” This is very common in karst geological areas, which is where you find a lot of caves.
Look at that red poison ivy. There must be a water source nearby.
Really close by and it’s adorable.
Flowing toward that reverse spring.
I don’t know why I like this area so much.
Maybe because where I lived in Arizona had a similar landscape, but Northern Arizona didn’t have a lot of green-lined streams like this one. At least, not year-round ones.
It is a very lovely stream to be honest.
Very interesting lighting here.
It’s just a very nice trail, as long as you wear pants.
Luckily, I heard about this guy and his buddy before heading out. They were still in the same spot. I had to bushwhack through some tallgrass to get around them.
The bison were located not that far down the trail from the trailhead. This was my last look at this wonderful meadow before climbing out of the valley/canyon.
I returned the following day to do the hike I was planning to do the day before but ending up doing the Lookout Point Loop. It was a rainy cloudy day. However, it was still pretty.
The Ranking Ridge Trail is a loop on top of Rankin Ridge, near a lookout tower.
Wheezing up that hill. #asthmatic
A bit of light in the distance.
All and all, it’s a decent trail, even on a rainy, blustery day.
Wind Cave is one of those places I hadn’t expected much from. My only goal was to go on the cave tour. However, the hiking trails I found were fantastic. There are more hikes I wasn’t able to do. I guess, I have to go back then.
Check my next update where I explore another fantastic cave, Jewel Cave!
or
Start at the beginning of this northwest Midwest road trip!
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