Answer the questions. Each one tells you why. Big and Little wrote them.
Park Quiz
Question 1 of 5
What does it cost to drive into Wind Cave National Park?
NPS says an entrance pass is not required to access Wind Cave National Park. The prairie, the scenic drives, and the visitor center are free. Going underground is the part you pay for: every trip into the cave is a ranger-guided tour with a separate ticket.
In the Lakota emergence story, what came up through the cave's natural entrance?
Lakota oral tradition describes a passageway to the spirit lodge, Tunkan Tipi, through a place where the earth breathes inside: Oniya Oshoka, called Maka Oniye in modern Lakota. The first people and bison emerged from it. At least 20 Native nations have ties to this place, and tribes still hold ceremonies here.
Rangers tell you to bring a jacket on a July cave tour. Why?
Wind Cave stays 54 degrees Fahrenheit (12 Celsius) year round, so an 85-degree South Dakota afternoon turns cold the moment you step below. Rock is a good insulator, and a cave holds close to the average yearly temperature of the region above it instead of following the seasons.
As of 2024, how many miles of Wind Cave had been surveyed?
NPS counts 167 miles of known cave as of 2024, and all of it folds up underneath about 1.25 square miles of prairie. That is why the maps look like a plate of noodles: the passages double back on each other instead of running out in a line.
Boxwork is rare. What is it?
Boxwork is made of thin calcite blades that project from cave walls and ceilings and meet in a honeycomb. The calcite filled cracks in the limestone first, then the softer rock between the blades weathered away and left the fins standing. NPS says perhaps no other cave in the world has boxwork this well formed or this abundant.