Photo gallery

The park in pictures

Photos of Wind Cave National Park and Friends events, on the prairie and in the cave.

Wind Cave National Park is two parks: 33,851 acres of prairie and ponderosa pine above, and more than 170 miles of mapped cave below. These photos show both, from bison and prairie dogs on the grass to the boxwork in the cave, along with Friends work days and events. Click any photo to see it larger; use the arrows to move through them, and Close to come back here.

Watch our videos · a tour of Wind Cave from South Dakota Public Broadcasting, and cave survey work.

A researcher in a green NASA helmet and blue gloves sits on cave rocks, collecting samples into small tubes.

Two prairie dogs at a burrow mound, one sitting beside the hole and one peeking out of it.

Sepia photo of a small building with a flagpole, below a hill with WIND CAVE spelled out in white stones.

Sepia studio portrait of a young man in a hat and dusty work clothes, holding a candle and seated on rocks.

Pink and orange sunset clouds over a prairie dirt road, a plank crossing and a small pond.

A prairie dog looks out from the edge of its dirt burrow mound.

A western meadowlark with a yellow breast perched on a wire fence.

A bison bull standing in prairie grass

A small brown bat hangs on a reddish cave wall.

A spotted tiger salamander on cave rock beside a red pen for scale.

Two prairie dogs stand upright on a dirt mound against a clear blue sky.

Two sharp-tailed grouse display with spread wings on a grassy rise.

A coiled prairie rattlesnake on pine needles beside pale rocks.

A pronghorn buck with black horns stands in tall green grass.

A pronghorn doe walks through dry grass with patches of snow.

A pronghorn doe and her fawn on a green hillside under a gray sky.

A dark, wet bison walks through green grass among ponderosa pines on a misty day.

A red squirrel perched on a pine branch.

A herd of elk rests and stands in the snow among pine trees.

A prairie dog sits up on its haunches in short spring grass.

A porcupine with long, pale-tipped quills walks through green grass.

A pronghorn buck walks through golden grass in warm, low light.

Snowy mountain ridges seen from the mouth of a cave

Boxwork formations inside Wind Cave

Jagged, layered cave rock lit in warm orange against deep shadow.

Boxwork formations on a cave ceiling

A low cave passage with an orange, fin-covered ceiling above a gravelly floor.

Thin brown boxwork fins criss-cross over pale gray cave rock.

A line of visitors in casual clothes walks single file up a narrow, rocky cave passage.

Thin white gypsum needles radiate from a crusty cave floor.

Curling white gypsum petals growing from a cave wall.

Fine, hair-like gypsum strands hang beside a white, knobby cave formation in the dark.

A spiky white frostwork crystal cluster among round white popcorn knobs on red-brown rock.

A tangled, bushy mass of thin, root-like strands hanging in a dark cave.

A cluster of pointed, translucent calcite crystals lining a pocket in the rock.

Fan-shaped brachiopod fossils embedded in gray cave rock.

Two pale, branching helictite bushes on a sloping cave ledge.

A small branching helictite on a white popcorn-covered mound, with a red pen for scale.

A caver with a headlamp at an underground lake

A rippled, tan cave drapery hanging in folds from the ceiling.

Stalactites hanging over an underground lake in Wind Cave

Thin soda straw stalactites hang above a tall, cream-colored column in a red-brown cave.

Dozens of slender stalactites hang over a rocky cave floor, with a stalagmite in the middle.

Three small figures with lights stand in a large, red-brown cave room.

A large bison bull in dry grass with more bison behind it and a helicopter in a dark sky.

A park ranger leading a group of kids and adults outdoors

The historic Sanson Ranch house on the prairie

Have photos from a work day, an event or the park? Send them to us with your name, and tell us we may use them.