South Dakota National Parks and Historic Site

Black Hills National Parks and Historic Site

The Black Hills are home to multiple South Dakota National Parks and Historic Site. Mount Rushmore is the more famous National Park in the area and a popular spot for tourists worldwide. Wind Cave and Jewel Cave are both National Parks that offer different hiking opportunities and cave tours. The Minuteman Missile Silo provides a chance to see a missile silo and launch control facility that was manned by the Airforce during and after the Cold War. This guide will go over what each of these locations have to offer and what to expect. If you would like information about Badlands National Park, click here.

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Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore is a national memorial for four different previous presidents of the United States of America: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt. It is free to visit but there is a parking fee if you choose to drive there. There is no lodging opportunity onsite but there is one restaurant, Carter’s Café, in the park. Pets are not allowed in this National Park. I would estimate 1-2 hours for this park, depending on how busy it may be.

This National Park has several places to check out like the visitor center, Avenue of Flags, and the Sculptor’s Studio. There is also a circular path that provides several great photo opportunities of the memorial itself.

The Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center contains the giftshop, park information, several displays about the presidents and park, and a short film that you can watch about Mount Rushmore. The Avenue of Flags has the flags of all 50 states, territories, commonwealths, and district lined up on both sides of a walkway that leads to Mount Rushmore. The Sculptor’s Studio has a smaller scale model of Mount Rushmore and is the place where the sculptor of the monument, Guzton Borglum, had worked at one time.

The park does provide a light show at night depending on the time of year for viewer enjoyment.

Wind Cave National Park

Wind Cave National Park is famous for having a large amount of boxwork. Boxwork is made up of skinny blades of calcite that forms a honeycomb like pattern on the walls and ceilings of a cave. There is a campground onsite along with numerous hiking opportunities.  There is no entrance fee for the park, but you will have to pay if you want to go on one of the cave tours. Pets are allowed in the campground and in the grass around the visitor center. The park has two pet friendly hiking trails but are not allowed in the rest of the park. If you are looking for a more pet friendly park, check out Custer State Park. The amount of time in this park is dependent on if you want to do the hikes and what tour you choose.

The visitor center has a gift shop and a museum. The museum has exhibits that educate about the park, Wind Cave, local wildlife, and the surrounding area.

Backcountry camping is available (permit required). The campground in this national park is the Elk Mountain campground. The sites are first come first serve and costs $18 per night during the peak season and $9 per night in the off season.

Hiking at Wind Cave National Park

If you want to hike in Wind Cave National Parks you will have a choice of trails depending on whether you want an easy hike or a more challenging one.

Here are the more strenuous hikes:

Things to note: Elk can be occasionally seen from Boland Ridge trail in the mornings and evening. The two pet friendly trails are Prairie Vista Trail and Elk Mountain Campground Trial.

Wind Cave Tours

There are several types of tours to choose from depending on how much time you would like it to last, your physical capabilities, what time of year you would like to go, and how flexible your start time is.  No matter what tour you choose; you will get to see the famous boxwork. Garden of Eden tour, Natural Entrance tour, Fairgrounds tour, Candlelight tour, and the Wild Cave tour are all options depending on when you choose to go. When we went, we took the $12 Natural Entrance Cave tour.

The highlight of the tour was seeing the boxwork in the cave and hearing about the Lakota Emergence Story which explains how the Lakota people came into existence. Reservations are required for the Candlelight and Wild Cave tour and all other tour tickets are sold on a first come first serve basis. It is recommended to arrive early to make sure that you are able to book a tour before they sell out.

Jewel Cave National Park

Jewel Cave National Park is famous for having the 3^rd longest cave in the world. There are several hiking trails available and multiple cave tours that you can go on. Entrance into the park is free but there is a fee if you decide to go on one of the cave tours. This park is not very pet friendly as they are only allowed in the parking lots, picnic areas, or on the roads. There are no campgrounds here. The amount of time in this park is dependent on if you want to do the hikes and what tour you choose.

They do have exhibits in the visitor center that educate people about the wildlife, Jewel Cave and the surrounding area.

Hiking at Jewel Cave National Park

There are three hiking trails in Jewel National Park.

You can find other trails in the Black Hills Forest here.

Jewel Cave Tours

There are 4 cave tours available: Historic Lantern Tour, Discovery Talk, Scenic Tour, and Wild Caving Tour. The Wild Caving tour is only available on select dates during the summer. You can choose tour based on your physical capabilities, interests, and times available. We did the $12 Scenic Cave Tour and it gave a nice overview of the different formations you can find in Jewel cave. You can book most of these tours in advance online. The Wild Caving Tour needs to be booked by calling the visitor center. 

Entering Multiple Caves:

When doing tours in different caves on your vacation, keep in mind, that you CANNOT wear the same clothes, jackets, bags, or shoes at each location.  This is to help prevent the spread of White Nose Syndrome; a disease that has decimated bat populations across the world. White Nose Syndrome is a fungus that we can easily bring with us on our clothes, shoes, and other items we travel with. This means that if you explore cave after cave wearing the same clothes and bring the same items, you are accidentally helping to spread White Nose Syndrome to different bat populations. 

Bats are amazing mammals and are incredibly helpful to our ecosystem.  Please do your part and be a responsible and safe traveler!  Bring enough clothes and shoes to cover all the different caves you plan on visiting. You will notice the caves may have foot baths to decontaminate your shoes. This is helpful, but it does not mean that you can wear the same shoes in another cave.  You technically would have to soak your shoes in it for at least 5 minutes depending on the chemical to fully disinfect your shoes.

Minuteman Missile NHS Visitor Center

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site consists of three different locations and there is no fee to enter. The visitor center, Delta-09 Missile Silo and Delta-01 Launch Control Facility make up this historic site. The locations are preserved to showcase the part of history involving the Cold War and nuclear weapons. This site was active from 1963- early 1990s and was manned by the Air Force 24/7 every day during this time. This historic site shows a unique opportunity to learn about America’s recent past and its relationships with other countries in reference to nuclear weapons. Due to the distance between the three sites, I would set aside at least 4 hours to see everything.

Minuteman Missile Visitor Center

The visitor center is open to everyone and where you will want to start your trip to this historic site. The center has a 30-minute film that discusses the Minuteman Missile defense system and its role in world affairs. This film is also available for purchase in the onsite gift store. There is a museum with interactive displays that does a great job walking you through the history of the cold war and what it was like working at the site. Even more amazing, is that some of the men that currently work and volunteer at the visitor center manned the site when it was active. It is amazing to hear firsthand accounts about what was happening onsite at that time and some of the false alarms that had happened on both sides.

Delta-09 Missile Silo

The Delta-09 Missile Silo location has a silo that you can look down into along with other fixtures inside the fenced in compound. There is a cell phone guided tour available to learn more information about what you are looking at.

Delta-01 Launch Control

The Delta-01 Launch Control Facility allows you access up to the fence so you can investigate the site. There is another cell phone guided tour available to explain what you are seeing. If you are interested, there is also has a ranger-guided tour option that will allow you to go inside the facility. There is a small fee for this tour, and you do have to book it a few months in advance.

Why You Should Visit:

There is more to the Black Hills in South Dakota than you can imagine. Wind Cave and Jewel Cave National Park are both great locations to add to your South Dakota vacation. Jewel Cave had better views, but the Wind Cave tour provided more valuable information about caves, rockwork and how the different formations came about. The Minuteman Missile Silo National Historic site was a unique opportunity to see and hear about the Cold war and the effects of Nuclear weapons during that time firsthand. And who can go to this area without visiting the famous Mount Rushmore monument? All of these locations provide wonderful experiences that will make your vacation even more memorable.

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