2009 07 01 Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park

Weather in the region has been fantastic - mid 80s - a refreshing change from the triple digit temps we endured in Dallas. This area has had a lot of precipitation, and the prairies are an artists palate of green. Wildflowers abound and complete the landscape - yellow clusters of sweet cover next to long stretches of prairie meadow, patches of plants with clusters of tiny blue blossoms atop whispy stems cap another hill, then stretches of white daisies dance in the soft breeze.

When we visited the region a number of years ago it was very hot, extremely arid. The prairie were completely brown. Today the landscape is a thousand shades of green - soft and velvety - in perfect contrast to the rugged beauty of granite and limestone. Morning in this place is very tranquil. Even though it's high season you feel as if the entire park is your private Shangrila.

We spent the morning driving south to visit Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park, just outside Pringle. The National Park Service offers guided walks that educate visitors about park management, ecology and wildlife. It's interesting stuff - the flora and fauna of the region. It is also breathtaking to see great herds of bison. These creatures are so majestic. It is hard to imagine that over 40 million once roamed our country. And then there are the prairie dogs. They are so curious, peeping out of their dens, chirping your presence to the village.

After our hike with the ranger we explored an amazing and complex underground world with a tour of Wind Cave through the Natural entrance. Wind Cave is particularly interesting because it offers an unusual and abundant formation of boxwork, rarely found elsewhere. The cave also has white, snow-like formations referred to as popcorn, frostwork or moon-milk. With over 131 miles of explored passages it is the 4th longest cave in the world. Almost all of the passages lie beneath a square mile area of land, making Wind Cave one of the most complex caves in the world. The natural opening to the cave was found by a local hunter, Alvin MacDonald, who was tracking an animal he had shot. In a small ravine he noticed the grass moving. As he bent down to investigate, wind escaping from the cavern blew his hat off. Soon Alvin started bringing his friends to the entrance to show them his "Hat Trick". Next he was crawling through the small natural opening, documenting each exploration in great detail in his diaries. In 1903Wind Cave National Park was set aside as the eighth national park in the US and the first created to protect a cave.