Badlands National Park SD

Badlands National Park SD, was about 45 minutes away from Wall Drug. It was our next destination on a gorgeous June day.

Welcome to Badlands National Park SD

Badlands is huge! Really big!! Vast!!!

We had heard from everyone who had been there that we had to go, if we were ever in the area. And so we obliged. We were so very glad that we listened to our fellow travelers!

Badlands National Park SD

Driving along the trail through Badlands the scenery keeps getting more and more awesome!

Badlands National Park is quite different from all of the other National Parks that we’ve experienced. The dramatic landscapes span layered rock formations that look like sand castles, steep canyons as well as towering spires. Though we didn’t see any wildlife while we were there, bison, bighorn sheep and prairie dogs live in the sprawling grasslands.

Why is Badlands called bad?

These rock formations reminded us of sand castles.

I’m sure the burning question is “Why is Badlands called bad?” It was the Lakota people who long ago dubbed this region mako sica, which means bad lands because it has such rocky terrain, lack of water and extreme temperatures which made it hard to traverse.

Driving along Door Trail

Badlands National Park is located near the Black Hills of South Dakota. Tourists, like The Traveling Locavores, come from all over the world to witness the amazing 244,000 acres of breathtaking landscapes, amazing geological formations, diverse wildlife and more. It’s an incredible place for hiking and fossil hunting, or merely taking a scenic drive.

Geologic formations are millions of years old here

Peaks and valleys as far as the eye can see.

The rugged rock formations of “Badlands” were not always there. Over a period of tens of millions of years, layers of sedimentary rock were deposited in this region as the environment changed drastically from sea, then to subtropical forest and then to open savanna. Once all of those layers were deposited, waters flowing from the Black Hills began to wear into the sediment, carving valleys and other shapes into the landscape to create the Badlands as we see them today. This process began approximately 500,000 years ago. In fact, it is still going on now, eroding the Badlands at the rate of about 1-inch per year. Of course it’s a slow process and geologists estimate that it will take another 500,000 years for the Badlands to erode away completely.

Why do these geologic formations look like sand castles?

On a clear day you can see forever

The rock layers that we see today weren’t always rock. Way back when oreodonts walked the land, they were the muddy bottom of a stream bed. Eventually those sediments hardened into the thick horizontal band of grayish red stone that we saw. Thin ribbons of rock known as clastic dikes sliced vertically through the horizontal layers. Composed of a harder substance the the surrounding butte, the clastic dikes erode at a slower pace allowing them to take on the appearance of a spine running through the strata. So basically, what looks like sand was actually mud that has hardened over centuries.

Great place to learn about Native American history and culture 

Bands of minerals create striations in the rocks

The Lakota people, who are members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, have lived in the Badlands region pretty much forever. There are many well known Native American leaders and warriors who were members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, including Crazy Horse and Red Cloud. The southern portion of Badlands National Park is on Pine Ridge Reservation. That part of the park is managed in cooperation with the Oglala Sioux Tribe. If you go to the White River Visitor Center there are exhibits that give you information about Lakota history and culture.

Over 7,500 stars fill the park’s skies

The sand castle like rock formations seem to just pop up from the green grass!

Being so far from major cities definitely has its advantages. The skies over the Badlands are exceptionally dark which allows visitors to not only view stars and constellations, but also the Milky Way, along with its galaxies, nebulae, planets and moons.

In spite of the park’s name, flora flourish here

This photo of Steve gives you perspective as to how large the rock formations are. He had to climb a distance to get to that spot!

Badlands is best known for spectacular geologic formations. But it also has one of the largest expanses of mixed-grass prairie in the country. Appropriately named, mixed-grass prairies contain a mix of ankle-high grasses characteristic of short-grass prairies and waist-high grasses characteristic of tall-grass prairies. It’s among these grasses that you can find colorful patches of wildflowers. Besides being beautiful on their own, these wildflowers also attract 69 species of butterflies.

What is Badlands National Park known for?

Hmmm. Did an an earthquake cause that chasm?

Badlands National Park SD contains one of the world’s richest fossil beds. These fossil beds allow scientists to study the evolution of mammal species such as the horse, rhino and saber-toothed cat. From tiny shrews to 2,000-pound bison, the Badlands is home to many species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and butterflies.

In a moment of great bravery, I climbed to this mesa for a photo op. I’m am quite afraid of heights!!!

One last look at the fabulous vistas of Badlands National Park SD

There was so much to see in this spectacular park! It is a place that we remember with great fondness whenever we look back on our travels.