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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Wind Cave visitation up 11%

Rangers at Wind Cave National Park have seen an 11% increase in cave tour visitation over last year. More than 32,000 people have toured the cave so far this year.

"The warm spring weather definitely helped our visitation, and it just hasn't slowed down since," said park superintendent Vidal Davila. "We're ahead of our 2010 numbers, when visitors to Wind Cave spent $17.6 million in the park and surrounding communities and supported more than 300 area jobs."

Visitors to the country's eighth national park have over thirty daily tours to choose from, with the first tour entering the cave at 8:40 a.m. and the last tour starting from the visitor center at 6 p.m. Five different regularly schedules tours are offered each day during the summer.

"With cave temperatures in the Black Hills in the upper 40s and lower 50s degrees, a trip into one of the area's caves is an excellent way to cool off this summer," Davila said.

For more information about tours at Wind Cave National Park, call the park at 605-745-4600 or visit: www.nps.gov/wica.

Source: Kota News