August 8, 2022 @ 09:00 MDT
Site Visit #42
I had been to Wind Cave National Park twice before my latest visit. In 1979, I passed through on the way to Mount Rushmore. I recall finding myself in the midst of a herd of bison while driving along a park road. I returned with my daughter a few years ago, this time after a visit to Mount Rushmore. Again, we just drove on the park roads, past some of the prairie dog towns in the park.
This time, I was going into the caves!
The only other cave I have ever toured was Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. In looking over the tour offerings at Wind Cave, I opted for the “Garden of Eden” tour, which ran about an hour, but was the least strenuous.
Unlike Mammoth Cave, where you actually enter the cave through a natural opening, the Wind Cave tour starts at an elevator. This will take the group down about 13 stories to a small, sealed chamber where the tour actually starts.
The largest natural entrance to the cave is a fairly small hole – maybe two feet in diameter. For the Lakota people who lived here, this opening was where the Earth breathed. Varying air pressure outside of the cave would force air into and out of the cave opening with a very distinct sound. High pressures forced air into the cave; low pressures pulled air from the cave. It seemed to breathe.
The chamber at the bottom of the elevator was kept well sealed to minimize contamination of the cave itself. Wind Cave, unlike many others, is a dry cave. No stalactites or stalagmites. That doesn’t mean there is no water in the cave, as the handrails were all damp, but that it is much lower than similar caves. Keeping outside humidity out was important.
Once we were all gathered, the ranger opened the door into the cave proper, and off we went. One major feature of the cave may have been the box-like formations that formed on the ceilings. They were extremely fragile, so no touching.
For that matter, we were asked not to touch any part of the cave if possible. Just a few touches will leave oil deposits on the rocks that will darken them.
I was surprised to learn that the park service has a “cleaning service” that periodically goes through the caves along the tour routes and cleans out hair and skin that naturally falls from people on the tour. According to the ranger, one cleaning trip often yields many huge (maybe 50-60 gallon) bags of human contamination.
As the tour continued, we had the obligatory “lights out” moment, where the ranger showed how dark the cave is when no light can penetrate. It was dark!! She then showed a light similar to those used by the original cave explorers. This was a cylinder, highly polished inside, with a small candle also inside. It was held like a flashlight, with the opening of the cylinder pointing ahead.
The ranger lit the candle and showed how much light it could cast in the open area we were in. Not very much. I decided I would not have been one to wander through uncharted passages in the cave with just a candle-based light like this one!
However, others have done such exploration. Much of the earliest exploration and mapping was by a teenage boy who lived nearby. He organized the first public tours of Wind Cave in the late 19th century. Sadly, he died of typhoid fever at age 20.
Today, about 160 miles of passages have been mapped, which some experts believe represents about 10% of the cave’s total. Discovery and research continue to this day. NASA is even working with the park to develop drone-like probes that could explore without leaving any human contamination (and fit through passages that even the skinniest spelunker can’t do).
The cave and stories around it were fascinating. I will gladly tour any cave with good lighting and a steady, wide path. Otherwise, I will stay “topside” and read of those that venture deeper!
Steve
