Wind Cave now world’s sixth longest cave

By Marcus Heerdt

HOT SPRINGS, SOUTH DAKOTA – Wind Cave is now the sixth longest cave in the world as cave explorers have discovered new passageways, bringing the total length of the cave to 167 miles.

The addition of these new passageways moves Wind Cave up one spot in the world, from seventh to sixth, in regards to the planet’s longest caves. Wind Cave surpassed the Optymistychna Cave near Korolivka, Ukraine, which is nearly 165 miles in length.

“Wind Cave is a difficult cave to explore and doesn’t always allow us to discover areas outside of its currently mapped boundaries,” said Marc Ohms, physical scientist for Wind Cave National Park. “But we’ve added a little bit here, and a little bit there, reaching 167 miles earlier this spring.”

In April 2022 the Fall River County Herald-Star first reported Wind Cave milestone of 160 miles mapped passageways.

When the National Park Service officially began managing Wind Cave in 1903, less than 10 miles of the cave was known. By 2001, that number increased to 100 miles. In 2019, the park celebrated going over 150 miles of mapped passageways. In 2022, more than 160 miles. And now in 2024, 167 miles.

Ohms said that park staff, the Paha Sapa Grotto and the Colorado Grotto (both chapters of the National Speleological Society ), as well as other volunteer cavers have been exploring the depths of Wind Cave, and have discovered some of the new sections of cave.

Cavers continue to explore an area of the cave known as the “Western Fringe,” a section of Wind Cave that is south and west of the park’s visitor center. Ohms said it takes cavers approximately six hours to reach the Western Fringe, and there is a camp set up there so explorers can spend three to four days researching in that area before heading back.

In 2022 Ohms said that cave explorers were only 800 feet away from connecting Wind Cave to another cave in the immediate vicinity, the Persistence Cave, which Ohms discovered himself in 2004.

“We are still 800 feet away today…nothing has changed there,” Ohms said.

Even though Wind Cave tours are currently suspended for the general public due to complete elevator replacement, cave exploration and research will continue during the closure.

Air pressure studies have indicated that only 5-10% of Wind Cave is currently mapped, leaving the possibility that the cave has hundreds of miles yet to be discovered.