My favorite National Park (so far) is tiny, forgotten Wind Cave National Park in the Black Hills region of South Dakota.
It's not the cave itself, although it is very nice. It's the wildlife preserve portion of the park.
Here you can walk amongst the buffalo, the prairie dogs, the pronghorns, and a cavalcade of other animals.
Now some may say Wind Cave cheats because it has been specially treated as a wildlife preserve and the animals have been "trucked in", so to speak. But I found it to be beautiful, and also peaceful, without the big crowds of the major parks (like Yellowstone).
I found it incredibly refreshing after stopping at the crowded, more touristy Black Hills sites like Mount Rushmore & the Crazy Horse memorial. If you ever go to visit South Dakota, take a day (or at least an afternoon) to stop by Wind Cave.
==================================================
My travels through the National Park System: americaincontext.com
Visitor Center
Copyright 2005-2013
National Park Advocates LLC
Follow the Traveler
Recent comments
-
j1jenkins
on
Efforts to Regulate Off-Leash Dogs at...
2 hours 32 min ago
-
rmackie
on
Billy Malone And the National Park...
4 hours 33 min ago
-
Rudy Stefancik
on
Half Dome Cables To Go Up Friday In...
15 hours 9 min ago
-
mountainhiker
on
Fire Island National Seashore...
19 hours 59 min ago
-
smokymtnhiker
on
Fire Island National Seashore...
20 hours 27 min ago
-
Sara
on
Fire Island National Seashore...
23 hours 56 min ago
-
SmokiesBackpacker
on
Fire Island National Seashore...
1 day 34 min ago
-
David Crowl
on
Birding In The National Parks: Chasing...
1 day 3 hours ago
-
Lee Dalton
on
Fire Island National Seashore...
1 day 4 hours ago
-
Jim Burnett
on
Birding In The National Parks: Chasing...
1 day 5 hours ago


















I second your comments about
I second your comments about Wind Cave - and the adjacent Custer State Park. For an even better experience at Wind Cave, take a short drive on one of the unpaved roads in the park. My wife and I did so this past summer, and spent a delightful hour sitting by the side of a gravel road, observing bison, pronghorn and other wildlife. We were the only people in sight, and the loudest things we heard were the breeze and the almost constant song of meadowlarks.