Cave trips will be available from Saturday, June 11 through Sunday, June 19. There will be a variety of trips suitable for all ages and abilities throughout the week, should you tear yourself away from the sessions long enough to get underground. Each day there will be several trips available to smaller caves scattered throughout the Black Hills National Forest that will be self-led, with descriptions and directions available at the Cave Trip table in the registration area. In addition, there will be at least 4 guided trips per day to some of the longer caves in the Black Hills, with about half available when registration opens on Sunday morning. Each day thereafter, additional trips will be announced for the following day.
For you cavers coming in early, sign up for trips on Saturday and Sunday, June 11-12 will be available at the Early Arrivals Campground area on Friday night at Adam Weaver’s house. Sign up for additional trips on Sunday, June 12 will be available at early registration at the Convention site on Saturday from 3-7pm. Trips for Monday and the remainder of the week will be available beginning at 8am on Sunday, June 12.
Cave Trips
Trip Leader Caves (check back for route descriptions)
Jewel Cave: Two routes available; The Hub Loop and Wild Caving Tour
Wind Cave: Three routes available; Wild Caving Tour, Bishop Fowler’s Loop, Club Room
Stagebarn Cave: The Halls
Bethlehem Cave: TBA
Reed’s Cave: TBA
Brooks Cave
Crystal Cave
Cave 41
King Tut Cave
Onyx Cave
North Cave: Dig Project
Davenport Cave: Restoration Project
Self-led Caves (check back for cave descriptions)
Jasper Cave
S&G Cave
Ice Cave
Blue Rock Crystal Cave
Sourdough Cave
Stender’s and Two-Name Caves
In addition, there are several small caves on the Black Hills National Forest that we would like to do re-survey trips to. These trips will be announced as sketchers/cartographers are identified.
A Note on White Nose Syndrome
The fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) was first found in the Black Hills a few years ago, with the first confirmed case of White Nose Syndrome (WNS) coming months after. In the summer of 2022, it should be assumed that all caves in the area have the potential to have the Pd in them. For caves owned by the National Park Service or United States Forest Service we will follow their protocols. For privately owned caves, we will follow the national WNS policy, and we will have mobile supplies as well as a decontamination station available at the convention site. More information on WNS and the national decontamination policy can be found here:
https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/mmedia-education/national-wns-decontamination-protocol-u-s