Badlands National Park
South Dakota is often imagined as a droning monotony of flat prairies, but look at a topographic map of the state and you’ll see a slash cutting across the countryside, known as The Wall. The sharply eroded buttes and pinnacles expose the colorful sediments laid down over the course of 47 million years through the Cretaceous Period, during the time of dinosaurs. Only a few miles from Interstate-90, this is one of the most accessible national parks, and can be seen nearly in its entirety in a matter of hours. If you do nothing else, the scenic drive along SD-240 through the park is very rewarding.
While the scenic drive is the main attraction here, don’t hesitate to get out a take a hike through the striated bands of rock. Colors vary from tan, grey, and brown to purple, red, and yellow. The Conata Basin and Yellow Mounds Overlooks offer some of the best views of the colors on display in the park. The Fossil Exhibit Trail is a boardwalk trail through fossil beds where a number of fossils were discovered. During the Cretaceous (~70 million years ago), South Dakota was under the Western Interior Seaway, an inland sea that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. Fossils from prehistoric alligators, aquatic rhinos, nautiloids, fish, and turtles have been unearthed along with many land animals such as camels, three-toed horses, and rodents.
The Door Trail in easy walk along a boardwalk through an opening in The Wall, where the ground looks like boiling rock frozen in time. Here you can leave the boardwalk and walk amongst rock spires and the eroding landscapes, but be careful not to twist your ankles.
WILDLIFE
The ground under South Dakota is crawling with prairie dogs, literally. Outside of winter you would be hard pressed not to spot one of these adorable rodents. Prairie dogs don’t hibernate, but they are less likely to come to the surface during the chillier months. Listen for their distinctive bark. They are not shy and you can spot many of them curiously popping out of their burrows. The best place to see them is along the western leg of SD-240 between the Pinnacles Ranger Station and I-90. It’s fun to pull over at the Badlands National Park sign and watch them for a few minutes. South Dakota is also home to bison and bighorn sheep so bring a set of binoculars and keep an eye out in the distance.
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