The weather forecast indicated that it had 60% chance of rain, therefore we decided to change the itinerary to visit Jewel Cave National Monument and Wind Cave National Park. Our thinking was that we would visit the caves and should have minimum impact by the rain. When we got to Jewel Cave National Monument around 10:30AM, we found out that the first available tickets were for 2:30PM tour. We did not want to wait, therefore we only hiked on the Roof Trail for about 30 minutes. The weather and scenery were nice.
Then we moved on to Wind Cave National Park. Prior to get into the the Wind Cave National Park, we saw quite a few bisons just wondering around near the entrance point of the park, therefore, we stopped and took many pictures.
When we got to the visitor center, we tried to get on one of the tours as soon as possible. We had some time prior to the guided tour, therefore we tried to hike the Prairie Vista Trail near the visitor center. The weather was not helping and the directions and markings for the trail were not clear either, therefore we only did for about 10 minutes and got back to the visitor center waiting for our tour.
The Natural Entrance Guided Tour was about 75 minutes and it started at the location where the original entrance was found. It is a very small hole on the ground which is hardly big enough for a person to get through it. The ranger placed a plastic tape and demonstrated the wind is blowing in or out of this hole depending on air pressures of inside and outside of the cave, and she told us that was the reason it is called Wind Cave. It is famous with the 'boxwork' which is an uncommon type of mineral structure formed by erosion rather then accretion. It is commonly composed of thin blades of the mineral calcite that project from cave walls or ceilings that intersect one another at various angles, forming a box-like pattern. The Ranger even turned off all the lights and let us to experience how explorers felt when they first discovered this cave. It was interesting and educational.
After the Natural Entrance Guided Tour, we went to hike on the Rankin Ridge Trail which is a 1 mile loop trail with a fire tower on the top of the hill. However the tower was closed to the public at the time we got there. From the top we were able to see the Black Hill Forest in distance and the panoramic view was great.
Then, we drove into the Custer State Park to tour the Wildlife Loop Road trying to spot wildlife. We only see deers, and perrier dogs. When we asked the ranger in the Wildlife Loop Visitor Center, he told us that most of bisons were spotted in a 3 miles area just north of the intersection of 16A and 36 on that day. When we got there, we did not see anything and then we just took route 36 to get back to Rapid City and called off the day. On the way, we did spot some black bows at one of nearby hill and we got a chance to see them rush away upward on the hill.
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