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