Wind Cave National Park

Today we travelled to Wind Cave National Park. There are 4 miles of "paved" trails through the cave (in eight different layers) out of known paths of 140 miles - it is a very big cave, one of the longest in the world. A Park Ranger got us 200 feet underground, and had a boy light a candle covered by a tin candlestick holder - then turned the lights out to show us what early exploration must have felt like. The candle cast a dim, but surprisingly wide pale over the chamber we were in. Then she blew out the candle - total darkness. A youngster screamed, and a father said, "I'm with the baby." Back with lights on, there was a brief discussion of total darkness. BTW, you can not see anything, and I mean any thing at all. Above the cave is a prairie wilderness area. We missed the elk herd, but saw buffalo, coyote, prong-horned antelope, and the ever present prairie dogs. Here are some examples. I think we were within ten feet of this big guy!