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.
Jana Irving 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.
Jana Irving As the name suggests, you do get some prairie views.
Jana Irving After the cave tour, the first trail I hiked was the Wind Cave Canyon Trail.
Jana Irving The trail is an old forest road, which makes it an easy hike.
Jana Irving Just a touch of fall color.
Jana Irving It’s a very shallow canyon.
Jana Irving 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.
Jana Irving On the way back, I spotted two male bison hanging out near the trail.
Jana Irving 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.
Jana Irving 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.
Jana Irving If you look closely, you may be able to see a dark dot in the middle of the photo. That’s another bison.
Jana Irving 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.
Jana Irving 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.
Jana Irving Cute little stream.
Jana Irving The trail heads into a hillier area, but not too hilly.
Jana Irving Very pretty.
Jana Irving Quite a nice view of the prairie.
Jana Irving And where there is prairie, there’s prairie dogs! It’s protecting an entrance to the tunnels that make up a prairie dog town.
Jana Irving The trail goes right through the prairie dog town.
Jana Irving Very pretty.
Jana Irving A herd of bison very far off in the distance.
Jana Irving The Black Hills off in the distance.
Jana Irving The trail eventually leads into a canyon of sorts. This was my favorite part of the trail.
Jana Irving A long skinny meadow at the bottom of the canyon. Or maybe it’s a valley?
Jana Irving One of the sides of the canyon looks very canyon-like but the other side makes it look like a valley.
Jana Irving Very pretty.
Jana Irving The meadow continues.
Jana Irving Deciduous trees line the banks of another stream. They are just starting to change colors here.
Jana Irving Dramatic cliffs on one side.
Jana Irving 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.
Jana Irving Look at that red poison ivy. There must be a water source nearby.
Jana Irving Really close by and it’s adorable.
Jana Irving Flowing toward that reverse spring.
Jana Irving I don’t know why I like this area so much.
Jana Irving Yep, no idea.
Jana Irving 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.
Jana Irving It is a very lovely stream to be honest.
Jana Irving Very interesting lighting here.
Jana Irving It’s just a very nice trail, as long as you wear pants.
Jana Irving Yellow greens.
Jana Irving 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.
Jana Irving 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.
Jana Irving The Rankin Ridge Trail is a loop on top of Rankin Ridge, near a lookout tower.
Jana Irving Wheezing up that hill. #asthmatic
Jana Irving Very pretty.
Jana Irving A bit of light in the distance.
Jana Irving 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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