#8 of 10 sights in Wind Cave
Sight · Wind Cave National Park
A short walk to striped rock layers if geology’s your thing.
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 place
Wind Cave Canyon“Up ahead is the Wind Cave Canyon trailhead, for an easy walk along a former road between limestone cliffs. The full three-point-six-mile round trip takes about two hours, with a gradual climb on the return.”
Plays as you drive up to Minnelusa Formation 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
Minnelusa Formation is an exposed band of sedimentary rock in Wind Cave Canyon and the third stop on the park’s self-guided geology drive. It’s a focused detour for anyone who likes reading a landscape through its rocks; if geology isn’t your thing, a mile-long round trip for one outcrop is an easy skip.
On the canyon’s left side, the formation appears in alternating horizontal beds of limestone, sandstone and shale. The colors run from yellow to red, while the shale is grayish cream. Compare these layers with the Minnekahta Limestone at Stop 2 to see how two neighboring formations differ.
The Minnelusa beds date to the Pennsylvanian and Permian periods. Across this part of the Black Hills, shallow seas periodically left sediments over much older rock. The hills rose into a dome about 70 million years ago, and erosion cut down through the layers to expose the rocks you see here.
The self-guided geology drive covers about 20 miles and seven stops, with a 60-to-90-minute estimate for the outing. For this stop, park at Wind Cave Canyon trailhead, 3.9 miles north on US 385, then walk about one mile round trip to the outcrop. The canyon route is a gravel service road with uneven ground and occasional steep grades; visitor vehicles do not continue past the trailhead. Pick up the printed stop guide and geologic timeline at the visitor center, and fuel up before the drive—there’s no gas sold in the park.
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
EasyWind Cave Canyon Trail3.6 mi · 2 hr · 0.4 mi awayAn easy former road beneath limestone cliffs, with nesting birds overhead.
EasyPrairie Vista Nature Trail1 mi · 36 min · 1 mi awayA one-mile loop past the Natural Entrance and prairie waysides.
EasyElk Mountain Nature Trail0.7 mi · 45 min · 2 mi awayShort prairie-and-pine loop; listen for elk bugles in autumn.
ModerateLookout Point Trail and Centennial Trail Loop4.8 mi · 2.5 hr · 2.2 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 · 2.2 mi awayA six-mile one-way mix of prairie, ponderosa forest and creek crossings.
ModerateCold Brook Canyon Trail2.8 mi · 1.5 hr · 2.4 mi awayA short prairie walk with canyon cliffs and a prairie dog town.
ModerateEast Bison Flats Trail7.4 mi · 4 hr · 2.5 mi awayOpen prairie, a steep canyon dip, and broad Buffalo Gap views.
ModerateBoland Ridge Trail5.2 mi · 2.5 hr · 4.6 mi awayFour rolling climbs lead to wide views over Red Valley.
Visitor center · 1 mi awayWind Cave Visitor CenterStart here for the cave tour and its prairie-side story.
Picnic area · 1 mi awayWind Cave Picnic AreaA picnic stop with a 150-yard walk to the natural entrance.
Sight · 1 mi awayWind CaveGet underground to see boxwork that’s rare elsewhere and abundant here.
Historic marker · 1 mi awayAlvin McDonald GraveA memorial to the young explorer who mapped miles of Wind Cave.
Sight · 1.1 mi awayWind Cave Natural EntranceA ten-inch opening with air you can feel moving.
Campground · 1.9 mi awayElk Mountain CampgroundA pine-and-prairie base near cave tours, with seasonal elk bugles.
Sight · 2.2 mi awayDeadwood SandstoneA quick stop to read Wind Cave's Cambrian rock layers
Sight · 2.5 mi awayMinnekahta LimestoneA quick roadside geology stop for layered Permian limestone.Parkwolf’s Wind Cave ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
