#Wind Cave National Park

[virtie333]

It's almost tourist tossing season!

#buffalo #american bison #bovine #cow #tourists #custer state park #wind cave national park

[wandering-jana]

Creek in Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota.

Explore:

#wind cave #wind cave national park #national park #nature #landscape #wandering #travel #wanderlust #hiking #original photography #photographers #photographers on tumblr #lensblr #south dakota #nature photography #landscape photography #wanderingjana

[hiimlesphotos]

Moving Along

#photography #nikon #buffalo #wind cave national park #south dakota #hiimles

[skylupine]

Sophia Simoes

#Bison #South Dakota #Landscape #Wind Cave National Park

[orkowhereheshouldntbe]

[ID in ALT!]

Orko in Wind Cave National Park. What stalag-might he see?

#orkowhereheshouldntbe #real life #wind cave national park #yes orko is smaller than the children here. he can be whatever size he needs to be to be funny

[bingwallpaper]

Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota, USA

Between the more famous national parks of Yellowstone and the Badlands lies Wind Cave. Established 100 years ago, this national park is home to one of only four wild herds of genetically pure bison in North America. These two are the descendants of 20 bison saved from slaughter by conservationists in the early 1900s. At the time, fewer than 1,000 wild bison were left alive out of a population that once numbered 50 million. Above ground, the park is the largest grass prairie in the country. Below ground lies one of the most extensive cave systems in the world. As the weather above changes, air flows into and out of the caves creating the wind for which the park was named.

#usa #south dakota #wind cave national park #bison

[iicraft505]

Wind Cave National Park | Amanda Scheliga

#iicraft505 #nature #wind cave national park

[mynationalisparked]

Wind Cave National Park is seriously so underrated I had a BLAST hiking through the prairie dogs and reading the cave map and hearing bison and elk

#GO VISIT IT #THERE WERE NOT MANY PEOPLE THERE SO IT'S VERY CHILL #wind cave national park

[wereonlyalittlelost]

South Dakota Cave Tours & Wineries

I bet the title of this blog post really took you by surprise! I know this whole experience was unexpected for me. In addition to having surprisingly tall mountains, South Dakota also has some of th... Read more

#South Dakota #United States #Jewel Cave #Wind Cave National Park #pictures #trip #travel #adventure

[impossibleturtlecrusade]

Wind caves national park 

#wind caves south dakota national parks

[emilybeemartin]

Just to tie in my two themes this month----

Additional notes, because poll options apparently limit their characters:

Frodo finds great peace in watching the tides rise and fall throughout each day. He attends all the ranger programs on birds and seashells and fills pages with sketches and poetry.

Sam meticulously selects postcards in the gift shop for each of his friends and spends a whole morning writing and addressing them. He also buys Junior Ranger hats for his kids and a variety of Appalachian jams for Rosie.

Park rangers launch a Missing Person search for Aragorn when they realize his car's been parked at Avalanche Creek for three days. The search runs for almost a week before he comes strolling out the opposite side of the park, supporting one of the SAR techs who twisted an ankle during the search.

Legolas is first drawn to Olympic for the towering, mossy temperate rainforests, but the ground goes out from under him when he steps onto Second Beach for the first time. He spends an entire day watching the light and tides shift on the sea stacks, and he leaves feeling both full and hollow, like a bell that's just been rung.

Mammoth is only Gimli's first stop on a cavern tour, followed by Jewel and Wind Caves and Carlsbad Caverns. Wind Cave is his favorite for the unusual formations. He makes an obnoxious tween boy cry in Carlsbad for breaking off a speleothem.

Boromir is on a tour of military parks. He asks so many questions to the intern working the info station at Fort Sumter the kid has to go find the park historian. His favorite site is Vicksburg because that place was buckwild, though he silently judges one of the reenactors for his clumsy handling of a black powder rifle.

Merry also makes stops in Jurassic and Dinosaur National Monuments. He watches every park video, takes selfies in front of all the fossil exhibits, and earns his Junior Ranger badge at each one. He buys a keychain for Pippin.

Pippin actually gets four citations, mostly for trying to stick his hands in mud pots. He doesn't mean anything by it---he's just so delighted and curious about the bizarre landscape. He winds up with several thermal burns and dumps a king's ransom in the donation box on his last day.

Gandalf gets dinged by rangers for not paying the $5 fee for Trunk Bay, but he acts senile until they eventually decide to drop it. He gets postcards from everyone and responds to none of them.

Faramir and Eowyn are traveling together and do many of the same hikes and rides, but they do have some different preferences off-trail. Eowyn drags Faramir to a rodeo and the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson Hole, and he goads her into Ranger Shelton Johnson's living history programs on the Buffalo Soldiers in Yosemite.

Eomer is bike-packing on his sport cruiser motorcycle. He goes to Roosevelt south unit for the wild horse herds but ends up spending half a day watching a prairie dog town. He takes 400 photos of them, mostly blurry, and texts them to Eowyn.

#i actually did legit trip planning for this post #whats my choice? #I'm the ranger in Yellowstone who keeps finding Pippin putting his face in the goddamn paint pots #during office hours I follow the updates of the SAR in Glacier #after that I catch up with Faramir in Teton to hike Paintbrush Divide and casually ask what his brother's up to #oh he's going to be at Fort Laramie next week? #you don't say #when I get back to YELL I put in for emergency days off #do i give a damn about Fort Laramie? no #lord of the rings #lotr #frodo #sam #aragorn #legolas #gimli #boromir #merry #pippin #gandalf #eowyn #faramir #eomer #national parks #31 days of national parks

[rate-every-bat]

If you haven't done it already, you should rate the Hoary Bat 💞 They're my favourite and I would love to see your opinion on them

Absolutely, let's do it!

Today's Bat: Hoary Bat

The Hoary Bat has always put me in mind of a little powdered donut. There's an abandoned mining cave that's been turned into a museum and nature preserve in my area, and bat spotters frequently find these frosted babies hanging out there during the summer. I'd really love to spot one in person, but for now, I'll settle for this precious picture:

Environmental Impact: The Hoary Bat has an incredibly wide habitat range across North and Central America, even reaching as far as Hawaii. With such a wide range, it's no surprise that they've split into several subspecies (which is so, so cool). They migrate from north to south in the autumn, or hibernate for short bursts using a "butt blanket" and torpor state to withstand cooler temperatures. Interestingly, they predate several pest species, but have a relatively restricted diet compared to other North American insectivorous bats. These guys also catch rabies fairly frequently, which is another hit to their score here.

🦇🦇🦇/5

Beauty: Oh, these guys are angels. Their wide faces and perfectly round eyes make them look like Precious Moments dolls with wings. Their coats, multi-colored with a delicate white frost, are the peak of winter fashion. I can't think of a single thing that would make these guys more appealing... top marks!

🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇/5

Power: Hoary Bats are largely solitary throughout the year. Upon mating in the autumn, the female retains sperm in her reproductive tract. She'll reserve it all winter, and come spring, she will fertilize her eggs and give birth by early summer. Delayed fertilization allows them to choose whether or not conditions are right to rear young, and controls for their generally lonesome nature. I first learned about this ability with bears, and I continue to find it fascinating. I will have to deduct points from the Power score, however, for their decidedly anti-clean-power stance: their leading cause of mortality is striking wind turbines.

🦇🦇🦇/5

Overall: This upcoming summer, hit your local mine. Maybe you'll find a Hoary Bat... or me, with a camera.

🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇/5

(Today's sources: Animal Diversity Web, Bat Conservation International)

(PS: I couldn't find a convenient spot to mention this, but the Hawaiian Hoary bat is actually endangered. They're the only remaining native land mammal in Hawaii according to the National Parks Service. BCI lists some conservational efforts, which I'd recommend reading up on and advocating for if you're able. Thank you!)

#rate every bat #bats #rating animals #wildlife #hoary bat #conservation #ask

[wandering-jana]

Wind Cave, Part 2

Wind Cave, Part 2

Wind Cave National Park has much more to offer than just a breezy cave. (more…)

View On WordPress

#south dakota #wind cave national park #wanderingjana

[hiimlesphotos]

Tongue Action

#photography #nikon #buffalo #wind cave national park #black hills #south dakota #hiimles

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Sand Island’s shoreline is pocked with sea caves carved by ice, wind, and the waves of Lake Superior. The lake has “higher water quality, lower watershed stress, and [lower] shoreline development stress than the other Great Lakes,” says Brenda Lafrancois, an ecologist for the National Park Service.

PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID GUTTENFELDER

#david guttenfelder #photographer #national geographic #sand island #shoreline #sea caves #lake superior #lake #great lakes #nature #landscape

[cheaprv]

Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota. Photo by Sophia Simoes.

#rvlife #camping #rv living #adventure #traveling #rvadventures #travel #campfire #rvliving #travel photography #south dakota #nature hikes #hiking adventures #hiking #travelphotooftheday