candlelight cave tour

We went with 11 yr old and 14 yr old and really enjoyed it. It was very different than the caves we've seen in ky and tn. The formations were beautiful and unique. Cave was drier than I expected. The tour guide was good. It was strenuous for about half: narrow, slippery. Stairs weren't bad.

Our family of 4 did this tour the week of July 4 - we were able to make reservations up to the week of.. I very much appreciated the ability to make the reservation. All of us, including the 9 year old, had our own candle which was very easy to manipulate. The beginning of the tour takes you through the areas that everyone sees on other tours, complete with expansive rooms showing the boxwork formation. Then, your smaller tour goes into unlit areas (you have your candles) while telling you more of the history of the cave. The hike itself is not too bad, there were times we were going down on our bottoms holding on.The tour was well worth our time, my only wish was that we had a more experienced guide. Our guide was friendly and personable, but she admitted to us she was a "summer intern" and had been in the area less than 2 months, and had never been inside any cave previous to this summer. Just my two cents, but I would have preferred a guide with a little more experience and depth in their knowledge.One note is our family did this tour, in addition to the lantern tour at Jewel Cave. We debated and debated which one to do, and ultimately just did both. We were happy we did this, as each cave is unique in its own right.

So worth the extra few dollars and making a reservation.

We did this candlelight tour just 2 weeks ago and we found it to be a fascinating way to see this cave. My family of 4 were the only ones on our tour and our ranger did a great job with our "private" tour. While we did have to shimmy and climb, I am 62 and had no real problems. We knew this was not a tour along a lighted path and thought it was great. We had taken the "scenic" tour at Jewel cave the day before because I had read there were more formations at Jewel. Really are glad we did both tours in the manner we did.

This is the best ranger-led tour I have ever done at any park. We loved the tour, that it was a small group and that we got to get off the paved trail. It felt more real and the idea of touring the cave with 40 versus the 10 slots available on the candellight tour is appalling. Great tour!

We had read good reviews on the candlelight tour of the Wind Cave and so we booked it. The cave itself is amazing. Once you start your tour, you're on a manmade pathway and the cave is lit by electric lights so you can adequately see the features. The candlelight tour takes you off the path and you are guided only by your candle in a bucket and the other 9 candles of those in your party.Though this sounds romantic, it proved to be very frustrating. I am 6'1" and after hitting my head twice on the low ceilings we were trudging through, found I had to stoop over most of the almost two hour tour. If that weren't bad enough, the rocks and dirt are very, very slippery. Folks in my group (me included) were periodically losing their footing and I was constantly worried about falling. There were several points you had to squeeze through rocks that, if you were overweight, would be difficult to get through. I am in good shape and the walking was not an issue but all this worrying about hurting yourself seriously detracts from your being able to thoroughly enjoy the cave. We finally arrived in a large room in the cave where we rested and we were then instructed to blow out our candles and experience the pure darkness. This was the most unique part of the tour.After we arrived back to the elevator, I feel I had missed a lot of the real beauty of the cave on this very "roughing it" tour. I had been hiking miles in the mountains of Yellowstone days before, but after two hours on this tour of the wind cave, I was sore for several days afterward (scabs on my head from hitting the rock ceiling, bruises on my shins from slipping and hitting them on the rocks, my back sore from stooping for two hours).

My husband, nine year old daughter and I took the Candlelight tour. There are two per day during the summer and you must make reservations. They allow 4-10 persons on these tours. They are on the stairs for the first part, then go off for the second part.This is the way to go. As far as caves go, Wind Cave is amazing. It is not your average cave, but has boxwork and other features that you really want to see up close. If you love caves, this is a must see. Our guide could take us in smaller groups into small areas to show us cool formations.The candle is in a very light bucket. I thought this would be heavy; it was not. The ranger provides gloves for you so you can balance inside the cave and not touch the walls with your hands. The ad says strenuous. I am not in great shape and am not quite released from shoulder surgery. I was a little worried, but I made it with very little trouble. My nine year old daughter did great. We stopped often to look at things so it was not a complete 2 hour hike.I would do it again if I ever got the chance!!!!