5 Fascinating Fun Facts about Wind Cave National Park

Listen to the Full Podcast Episode:

Podcast Episode Overview

Wind Cave National Park is one of the most surprising, mysterious, and underrated parks in the Black Hills. Today, we are diving into Wind Cave fun facts that will completely change the way you see this small-on-the-surface but massive-underground national park.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why Wind Cave National Park gets bypassed, and why we think it should not
• The human history that makes Wind Cave feel like an adventure story, including the cave’s Lakota name, Maka Oniye, or “Breathing Earth”
• The teen explorer who mapped the first miles of the cave with string, candlelight, and a whole lot of bravery
• The rare cave formations Wind Cave is famous for, including boxwork and giant helictite bushes
• The secret behind the wind, and why scientists think we have only discovered about 10% of the cave so far

Your task for today: Spend 15 to 20 minutes on the Wind Cave National Park Service website and look up one thing we talked about, like the Lakota emergence story, Alvin McDonald’s diary entries, or the cave formation photos.

Planning your own Wind Cave National Park adventure?

• Dirt in My Shoes South Dakota Itinerary: https://shop.dirtinmyshoes.com/products/south-dakota-itinerary 
• Dirt In My Shoes Wind Cave National Park Planning Resources: https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/wind-cave-national-park/ 
• Episode 139: Exploring Wind Cave National Park: Best Tips + Activities: https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/exploring-wind-cave-national-park-best-tips-activities/ 
• Episode 29: The Black Hills (Wind Cave, Custer State Park, Wind Cave, and more!): https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/29-the-black-hills-wind-cave-custer-state-park-jewel-cave-and-more/ 
• Master Reservation List: https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/list/
• National Park Checklist: https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/national-parks-checklist/ 
• Trip Packing List: https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/pack/

Wind Cave National Park Fun Facts

Wind Cave National Park is in South Dakota, in the Black Hills. On the surface, it is a fairly small park that is easy to miss. There are only a few roads you can drive, and when people think of South Dakota, most people immediately think of Mount Rushmore.

But the Black Hills are packed with incredible places, and Wind Cave is right there. It gets bypassed way too often, and today we are here to convince you not to skip it.

I also have a soft spot for cave parks because I used to give cave tours at Timpanogos Cave National Monument in Utah. I love caves and cave tours, but when the lights go off, and it is complete darkness, I get a little claustrophobic. Getting stuck in a cave in total darkness is one of those fears that lives in the back of my mind.

So when I say Wind Cave is special, you can trust I mean it.

1. Maka Oniye, the “Breathing Earth,” is a sacred place

Wind Cave is known to the Lakota people as Maka Oniye, which translates to “Breathing Earth.” According to Lakota tradition, this place is the birthplace of the Lakota people and the buffalo, where they emerged from the Spirit Lodge long ago.

In 1868, the Fort Laramie Treaty recognized the Black Hills as exclusive Native American land, but after gold was discovered at French Creek in 1874 and Deadwood Gulch in 1875, conflict during the Great Sioux War led to the Lakota being removed from the Black Hills in 1877. Knowing this history adds weight to the sacred nature of this small opening in the earth.

2. A teenager became Wind Cave’s greatest explorer

After the cave’s windy entrance was stumbled upon in 1881 by Tom and Jesse Bingham, a 16-year-old named Alvin McDonald fell in love with it and began exploring with only a string and candlelight, mapping routes, naming rooms, and keeping a detailed diary as the self-appointed “permanent guide of Wind Cave.”

He discovered and mapped the first eight to ten miles of passageways and drew so much attention to the cave that, after his death from typhoid fever in 1893 and a series of lawsuits over ownership, national interest grew, and Wind Cave was designated the sixth national park in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, becoming the first national park created to preserve a cave.

3. Wind Cave has more boxwork than anywhere else on Earth

Wind Cave is famous for boxwork, a delicate honeycomb-like mineral formation that remained after the surrounding limestone dissolved away, similar to candy wrappers left behind after the candy itself dissolves. Millions of years ago, slightly acidic water deposited thin mineral “wrappers” in cracks, and later water dissolved the limestone but not the boxwork, leaving empty cells across the ceilings and walls.

Wind Cave contains more boxwork than all other caves on Earth combined, and it is everywhere, which is why you need to visit with the right expectation and appreciate just how rare it is.

4. Wind Cave has giant helictite bushes, including “Emperor Maximus I.”

Wind Cave also features rare helictites, delicate formations that twist and turn in all directions and seem to defy gravity as mineral-rich water moves through tiny channels under pressure. While most helictites in other caves measure only a few inches, Wind Cave has massive “helictite bushes,” including one discovered in 1970 and named Emperor Maximus I that stands about six feet tall, along with another named Empress Maxima discovered in 2020, making them some of the largest known examples in the world.

5. The wind helps scientists estimate the size of the cave

Wind Cave stays at about 54 degrees year-round, and because of its small natural opening, changes in surface barometric pressure cause air to move in and out of the cave, as if it were breathing.

By measuring the volume of air flowing through the entrance, scientists have estimated the total volume of the cave and believe that the 167 miles mapped so far may represent only about 10% of the entire system, meaning there could be far more underground than we have physically explored and fueling hope that Wind Cave may one day rival or even connect with nearby Jewel Cave.

---

Links mentioned in this podcast episode:

• Episode 105: 8 Day Spring Break National Parks Road Trip
• Wind Cave National Park – NPS Website
• The Journey of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History (John’s book recommendation)
• Mount Rushmore National Memorial
• Black Hills, South Dakota
• Timpanogos Cave National Monument
• Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
• Fort Robinson, Nebraska
• Wind Cave Lakota Emergence Story
• Alvin McDonald Diary
• Wind Cave Guided Tours
• Wind Cave Photo Gallery (Boxwork and Cave Formations)
• Jewel Cave National Monument
• Mammoth Cave National Park

Are you hoping to visit all of the national parks? Sign up for your FREE NATIONAL PARKS CHECKLIST so you can easily see where you’ve been and where you still need to go!