Badlands & Wind Cave National Parks & Other Sights in the Black Hills Area

“They made us many promises, more than I can remember – They never kept but one; they promised to take our land, and they took it!”

Red Cloud, Lakota, 1891

 

“Fancy yourself on the hottest day in summer in the hottest spot of such a place without water – without an animal and scarce an insect astir – without a single flower to speak pleasant things to you and you will have some idea of the utter loneliness of the Bad Lands.” 

 Paleontologist Thaddeus Culbertson
 

 

Inside Badlands NP

The Badlands National Park is in South Dakota near the Black Hills.  People come to visit the Badlands for many reasons - to see the unusual rock formations, to camp or hike, to study fossil remains, or just to explore another national park.  The Badlands are a place of extremes.  In the summer you may well curse the heat.  The day we were there in mid-July, the temperature was 109 degrees.  We were not doing any hiking in that weather.  In the summer you will quite often experience violent lightning storms.  Winter can be quiet chilly and there can be winds that roar out of the north. 



Bison in the Badlands NP

The park consists of 3 units totaling more than 240,000 acres.  The North Unit is the best known and most easily explored area.  It has the Badlands Loop Road with scenic overlooks and trailheads, and Cedar Pass – where there is a lodge and a visitor center.  This is the area that we explored on our day in the park.  We also ventured onto a gravel road which led out to a prairie dog town, where we did see some prairie dogs.  We were glad we took this detour, even though we were on the gravel road for about 10 miles each direction.  While on it, we saw a heard of antelope and 2 buffalo.  That was all the wildlife we saw while in the park.

Inside Badlands NP

Because if was so hot when we were there, we mostly viewed the park from the comfort of our air-conditioned car, with stops at view points to take pictures.  We had our dogs along with us on this trip, and it was just too hot to take them out of the car, so it did limit us.  I have to admit though, at my age, I am not up to hiking up paths in 100 plus weather.

This park does have a very different type of scenery.  It is very desolate.  George said he could imagine a cowboy riding his horse through this area and wondering how to get out of there.  It is not an area I would want to spend too much time in, even though it does have a beauty of its own.  If you stick to the main area, which is the North Unit, you can easily see the park in one afternoon.  The other areas of the park are less accessible.  Most people who go to the park only see the North Unit.

Inside Badlands NP

There is lodging available in the park at the Cedar Pass Lodge which has both historic and new cabins available. Just outside the park is the Badlands Inn. Camping is also available year-round. They do not take reservations for the camping, it is first come, first served. There are no showers available in the campground. They do have RV hookup for electrical only, no water or sewer.



Entrance to Wind Cave National Park

 

Boxwork - inside the cave

Wind Cave National Park is also in the Black Hills area of South Dakota.  Hidden beneath the rolling prairie of the southern Black Hills is one of the world's longest caves.  Swaying prairie grasses, forested hillsides, and array of wildlife (such as bison, elk and prairie dogs) welcome visitors to the 7th oldest national park in the USA.  Beneath one of the few remaining intact prairies is one of the world's longest caves.  Wind Cave is named for barometric winds at its entrance.  The complex labyrinth of passages contains a unique formation know as boxwork.

  

The Visitor Center to the park is open daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Days and contains three exhibit rooms featuring cave exploration, cave formations, early cave history, the Civilian Conservation Corps, park wildlife, and resource management. An 18-minute movie; Wind Cave: One Park, Two Worlds; is shown throughout the day.

Formation inside the cave

Cave tours are offered daily throughout the year except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. The cave temperature is 53 degrees at all times of the year. A jacket or sweater and good walking shoes are recommended.  All cave tours leave from the visitor center.    The visitor center and the cave are accessible to people with disabilities.

Wind Cave National Park protects two very different worlds; one deep within the earth, the other a sunlit world of many resources. Exploring any of the 30 miles of hiking trails, one of the three nature trails, or just hiking cross-country gives visitors the opportunity to experience the amazing prairie and forest worlds of the park.

Living within the park are many different types of animals. Driving the park roads or hiking the trails provides the opportunity to see bison, prairie dogs, pronghorn or many of the different birds living here.

Elk Mountain Campground is located among rolling hills, prairie and ponderosa pine forest. While camping visitors have a unique opportunity to view the plants and animals of the southern Black Hills. The campground is open all year.

The Black Hills

Besides the Badlands & Wind Caves National Park there are quite a few other things to see in this area.   While we were there we also stopped at the Crazy Horse Memorial, Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood and The Devils Tower.  All of these are in the Black Hills area of South Dakota, an area the Indians consider sacred. 
 

The Crazy Horse Monument is still a work in progress.  They are still blasting away and carving.  The monument will not be finished anytime in my lifetime.  So far all they have done is the head, which took 50 years to complete, and it is larger than all 4 heads at Mt. Rushmore.   When completed it will have Crazy Horse sitting on his horse pointing towards the Black Hills.  It will be taller than the Washington Monument in DC.  While you can see this from the highway, I highly recommend that you go into the exhibit and see what the statue will look like when completed and to see the movie which shows how it is being built and its history.  I found it fascinating, and enjoyed this more than Mt. Rushmore, which is more well known. 

How the statue will look when completed

The original sculptor is Koreczak Ziolkowski.  He sculpted the smaller statue which is on display at the center, and he worked on the sculpture on the mountain, until is death.  The project is now run by his wife, and 7 of his 10 children are still working on it.  Mr. Ziolkowski wrote this about Crazy Horse in 1949:

 

Crazy Horse was born on Rapid Creek in the Black Hills of South Dakota in about 1842.  While at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, under a flag of truce, he was stabbed in the back by an American soldier and died September 6, 1877 – age 35(?)

Crazy Horse defended his people and their way of life in the only manner he knew.

BUT- Only after he saw the Treaty of 1868 broken.  This treaty, signed by the President of the United States, said in effect:  "As long as rivers run and grass grows and trees bear leaves, Paha Sapa – the Black Hills of Dakota – will forever be the sacred land of the Sioux Indians.”

Only after he saw his leader, Conquering Bear, exterminated by treachery.

Only after he saw the failure of the government agents to bring required treaty guarantees, such as meat, clothing, tents and necessities for existence which they were to receive for having given up  their lands and gone to live on the reservations.

Only after he saw his people’s lives and their way of life ravaged and destroyed,

Crazy Horse has never been known to have signed a treaty or touched the pen

Crazy Horse, as far as the scale model is concerned, is to be carved not so much as a lineal likeness, but more as a memorial to the spirit of Crazy Horse – to his people. With his left hand thrown out pointing in answer to the derisive question asked by a white man, “Where are your lands now?” he replied “My lands are where my dead lie buried.”

Inside the gift shop - up close of  the head of Crazy Horse

 

Indian dance show at
Visitor Center

I’m so glad we stopped to see this memorial.  I learned a lot about Crazy Horse, and I was impressed with what has been accomplished.  They take NO federal money, they do not want the government involved.  It is all paid for with donations and the money they make from the tourists.  They could work faster if they took money from the government, but they want to keep it out of their control.  It will take another 10 years just to finish the hand that is pointing, so it is hard to say when the whole statue will be completed.  I know I will never see it.  Probably there will be grandchildren and even great- grandchildren of the sculpture working on this until it is completed.  It seems to be a family project – and talk about job security.  The cost of admission is $10 per person.  There is a center where they have lots of Indian artifacts, tourist information, and a movie that explains the project and its history.  The original sculpture , which is 1/34^th size is on display at the center.  Pets are welcome, even in the movie, as long as you hold them. There is a night-time laser light show during the summer months.  There was a show with indian dancers the day we stopped.



Mt. Rushmore

Not far from the Crazy Horse Monument is Mt. Rushmore, which we visited the same day.  Pets are not allowed inside the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial, which limited our visit there.  They have a grassy area near the parking lot where they are allowed, or they can stay in the car.  I never leave my dogs unattended in the car.  So, George stayed with the dogs while I walked the short distance up through and area with all the states flags and onto the viewing plaza.  I took some pictures and looked around, then went and stayed with the dogs while George walked up.  The mountain is impressive.  Something we have all seen in pictures, and certainly something you should stop and see if you are in the area.  There is a path to go up to the base of the mountain, but we couldn’t do that.  The majority of people who stop here go no farther than we did.  There is no admission fee, per se, but they charge $11 for parking, which you have to do. 
 

Entrance to town of Deadwood

We also stopped at the historic town of Deadwood, where Wild Bill Hitchcock was shot.  They do a re-enactment of that and the trial for the person who shot him in the town, there is a charge to see it.  The town has some interesting old buildings, but it has been taken over by casinos and tacky gift shops.  We did go over and walk around and look at some of the shops.  We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant and it was quite good.  It was fun to see.

Devil's Tower

As we were leaving the area we visited Devil’s Tower, which is only a short distance away, although it is actually in Wyoming.  It is certainly close enough that if you were visiting this area, you should go over and see it.  It is a national monument, so your NP pass will get you into it also.  The Devils Tower is over 5000 feet tall, and is quite spectacular.  You can see it from a distance as you approach.  There is a visitor’s center near the entrance which is worth going into it.  There is also a path that is 2.8 miles – it is a loop that goes up to the base and then all the way around.  Dogs are allowed on the path if they are on a leash.  The day we were there the temperature was 100 degrees, and we didn’t feel the dogs or us were up to the walk.  I did go up the path a short distance to get some closer pictures.

Every year climbers come to climb the tower.  The Indians consider this tower to be sacred, and the climbers are offensive to them, as they feel they are defacing the rock with their picks. 
 

Baxter watching the prairie dogs
at Devil's Tower

There was also an area that had prairie dogs, so we had to stop and let our dog Baxter watch the prairie degs.  He watched from the car, we didn’t let him out, but he was fascinated and was following their every move.  It was fun to watch his excitement. 

We also did a drive through the Black Hills and there is some beautiful scenery throughout this area.  Besides the things I have mentioned there are so many other things you can do while in the area.  There are hot springs, a Bear Country to drive through, Wall Drug which is a famous tourist trap, and just some wonderful mountains, trees, streams and generally beautiful scenery.  You could easily spend a week or two exploring this area.iH