#9 of 10 sights in Wind Cave
Sight · Wind Cave National Park
A quick stop to read Wind Cave's Cambrian rock layers
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Wind Cave Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Wind Cave National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this area
Beaver Creek Bridge“You're coming up on the Beaver Creek Bridge area. For a quick stop, use the roadside pullout near Centennial Trailhead to see the arches across the canyon.”
Plays on the road 0.1 mi from Deadwood Sandstone in the Parkwolf Wind Cave Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Deadwood Sandstone is a small rock exposure in a basin on Wind Cave's geology driving tour. It's a focused stop for anyone curious about the layers beneath the Black Hills; if you'd rather spend time on a walk or a big viewpoint, save the pause for another stop.
Following the tour north on Route 385, continue 1.7 miles to Route 87, turn right, then go about half a mile; the basin is on the left. Much of the sandstone is near its north end and bottom. Parking is listed for the stop, but the directions don't pinpoint a lot or turnout, so don't treat the highway shoulder as parking; stop only where a safe, permitted place is clearly available.
This is Cambrian-age sedimentary rock made mostly of quartz grains in different sizes. The sandstone ranges from brown to light gray, so look for those changes across the exposure as you scan the basin.
Wildlife
600 sightingsBisonMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
59 sightingsElkMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
258 sightingsPronghornMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
14 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
128 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
26 sightingsGolden EagleMost seen around noonSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Wind Cave. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ModerateLookout Point Trail and Centennial Trail Loop4.8 mi · 2.5 hr · 0.1 mi awayPrairie dogs, creek bridges and one steep climb on a 4.8-mile loop.
ModerateCentennial Trail: Norbeck to Highland Creek6 mi · 2.8 hr · 0.1 mi awayA six-mile one-way mix of prairie, ponderosa forest and creek crossings.
EasyElk Mountain Nature Trail0.7 mi · 45 min · 1.1 mi awayShort prairie-and-pine loop; listen for elk bugles in autumn.
EasyPrairie Vista Nature Trail1 mi · 36 min · 1.7 mi awayA one-mile loop past the Natural Entrance and prairie waysides.
EasyWind Cave Canyon Trail3.6 mi · 2 hr · 2 mi awayAn easy former road beneath limestone cliffs, with nesting birds overhead.
EasyRankin Ridge Nature Trail1 mi · 1 hr · 3 mi awayA short ridge loop with a fire tower and wide plains views.
ModerateCold Brook Canyon Trail2.8 mi · 1.5 hr · 3.1 mi awayA short prairie walk with canyon cliffs and a prairie dog town.
ModerateSanctuary Trail7.2 mi · 3.5 hr · 3.9 mi awaySeven miles of rolling prairie to a large prairie dog town.
Sight · 0.4 mi awayBeaver Creek BridgeA 1929 arch bridge designed to rise from Beaver Creek Canyon’s walls.
Sight · 0.9 mi awayAncient FoundationsFind pink feldspar, gray quartz and black tourmaline in ancient pegmatite.
Campground · 1 mi awayElk Mountain CampgroundA pine-and-prairie base near cave tours, with seasonal elk bugles.
Picnic area · 1.5 mi awayWind Cave Picnic AreaA picnic stop with a 150-yard walk to the natural entrance.
Historic marker · 1.5 mi awayAlvin McDonald GraveA memorial to the young explorer who mapped miles of Wind Cave.
Sight · 1.5 mi awayPigtail BridgeOne road climbs over its own path, then curls back underneath.
Sight · 1.5 mi awayWind Cave Natural EntranceA ten-inch opening with air you can feel moving.
Sight · 1.6 mi awayWind CaveGet underground to see boxwork that’s rare elsewhere and abundant here.Parkwolf’s Wind Cave ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
