South Dakota - Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park

State: South Dakota

Area: 422 sq. mi.

Established: 1939

Badlands National Park lies in the southwest of the state of South Dakota. It was originally scheduled as a National Monument in 1939 and became a National Park in 1978. In 1976 its area was almost doubled and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation was incorporated in it. In 1991 it attained world fame as one of the settings of the Kevin Kostner film "Dancing with Wolves". The "bad lands" - a name originally given to the area by the Prairie Indians because of the rough nature of the terrain - are a prairie plateau up to 200 ft high that has been furrowed by erosion, with deeply indented dry valleys and bizarre rock formations (pinnacles, towers, ridges, small tabular hills) in multi-colored strata (numerous fossils) consisting mainly of solidified clay, sand, slate and volcanic ash. The National Park includes the most rugged and fissured part of the bad lands. A road runs through the park from the northwestern entrance (Pinnacles Entrance), lined with parking places and viewpoints that offer changing vistas of the rugged rock formations to the south and of the Buffalo Gap National Grassland, one of the last remaining intact prairie landscapes in North America.

Information The Badlands National Park is open throughout the year; there are Visitor Centers in Cedar Pass (open throughout the year) and White River (Jun.-Sep.). In summer it can be very hot and there may be violent storms. The best times of year to visit the park are spring and autumn.

There is only limited accommodation for visitors in the National Park. Outside the park there are motels at Wall and Kadoka. The nearest town of any size is Rapid City.

Walks Throughout the park, particularly in the Cedar Pass area, there are waymarked hiking trails. Maps can be obtained from the park administration or from visitor centres. There are guided walks on nature trails.

Fauna On either side of the unsurfaced Sage Creek Rim Road (10 mi.) in the north-west of the park grazes a herd of bison that has now increased to several hundred head. In this area too is a colony of prairie dogs (Robert Prairie Dog Town). Other animals to be seen in the park include mule and white-tailed deer, pronghorn antelopes and bighorn sheep.