National Park Spotlight: Badlands

An old sodbuster saying, commonly misattributed to Pulitzer-winning author Willa Cather, is that "Anybody can love the mountains, but it takes a soul to love the prairie.”  I hate misattributed quotes, but I do think that the general sentiment here is a beautiful one, and it’s better encapsulated in this correctly attributed quote from Suzanne Winckler; “…the joy of prairie lies in its subtlety.  It is so easy — too easy — to be swept away by mountain and ocean vistas.  A prairie, on the other hand, requests the favor of your closer attention.  It does not divulge itself to mere passersby.”

Driving through the South Dakota prairie, this becomes abundantly clear. The gently undulating hills, painted green with tall grass and dotted with brush and eroded hillsides, represent your entire field of view all the way to the horizon. You’re likely to be the only person in sight for miles, and you feel wrapped in a wave of contented solitude. People talk about going to the mountains to be alone, but really, you can’t get much more alone anywhere in the country than you will be on the prairie. The only thing to remind you of civilization is the bizarre sight of a couple thousand Wall Drug signs.

The author enjoying the park's Open Hike Policy, which allows visitors to explore freely off-trail.

Jutting up out of the prairie near Wall, SD is an alien landscape of jagged peaks and rugged spires, worn by wind and time. When we struggle to find words for a landscape, the Star Trek references tend to get thrown around pretty loosely – but in this case, it really does look like something from another planet. The contrast between the high Badlands wall and the flat grasslands below is stark. The landscape looks almost impenetrable; in fact, the name “Badlands” refers to the difficulty of travel through this area. However, little “windows” in the wall allow for spectacular views of the eroded canyons around. My personal favorite of these was the Notch Trail, which is a fun little 1.5-mile hike that involves a short climb up a log ladder and then a walk around a steep ledge to a gorgeous view of the White River Valley.

The author climbing the log ladder on the Notch Trail.

I’ve never seen a trail of less than a mile rated as “strenuous” at a park, but Saddle Pass changed that for me. While I think the rating is a bit of a stretch, I can see where it comes from; this trail is basically straight uphill. When you get to the top, you’ll have a spectacular view, but be careful climbing down, as a common theme in this park is that the downclimbs are much harder than the upclimbs.

The ascent to the top of Saddle Pass

The Badlands are a premier destination for fossils, and the park has a fossil exhibit trail for just that reason. It’s a boardwalk with fossil replicas along it, and interpretive signs explaining the paleontology of the park. However, during our visit, we were a bit distracted from the fossil exhibit by the sight of a gorgeous, chocolate brown Bighorn Sheep across the road. South Dakota’s Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep reintroduction has been a major success – from complete extirpation, the sheep population has now grown to a size that allows for limited hunting. In contrast with many other states’ sheep tags, South Dakota’s sheep hunts are for residents only (and not allowed within the bounds of the National Park). This guy was standing still as though posing for photos, so we got a few pretty good shots of him before we went on our way. It is always a great experience to see an animal like this, a product of a conservation success story, while out visiting public lands.

The aforementioned Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep. Photo taken by Piper Jefferson.

Beyond the hiking, this park is pretty enjoyable just from the road. The Badlands Loop Road is 42 miles long, with 12 scenic overlooks along the way. They’re all worth the stop, but Yellow Mounds is my favorite. A small social trail allows you to see geologic time illustrated right in front of you, and the yellow and red colors in the bands are striking. With each band representing a different time period in the geological history of these hills, your mind wanders and thinks about what (or who) else has walked right where you stand in the past. You contemplate your place in it all, just as you might when you look up into the night sky and see distant stars and galaxies. It’s beautiful. It’s absurd. It’s Planet Earth.

The Yellow Mounds Overlook

Don’t forget to stop by the Roberts Prairie Dog Town and see the huge numbers of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs standing watch for predators. Keep an eye out along the road for bison as well. Unfortunately, like with most bison herds in the U.S., you won’t see any outside of the park, but you can at least enjoy the sight of them within their refuge area, and acknowledge at least how far bison recovery has come in the last century since 23 remained in Yellowstone National Park, following intentional extirpation by the U.S. government. In the 1950’s, 29 bison were brought from Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge in Nebraska to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. Among them were descendants of bison from various places in the country, some of them from the Yellowstone stock. In 1963, Bison from Theodore Roosevelt National Park were brought to Badlands National Park to start their herd. The herd grew, and today, the 1,200 strong population is controlled by an annual roundup, where some are given to the Intertribal Buffalo Council.

So far, everything we’ve mentioned – besides the wildlife – is in the North Unit of the park. This is the most accessible portion of the park, but there are two other districts – the Stronghold Unit, which is entirely located within the Pine Ridge Reservation, and the Palmer Creek Unit, which is almost completely inaccessible, and I can’t really recommend anyone try to visit that one. If you do, contact the park directly first to get more information, as info on their website is scarce. Even the Stronghold Unit is pretty out-of-the-way, the visitor center is only open seasonally, and management is a bit complicated. A trip to any park should be well-planned anyway, but if you plan to visit either of the units besides the North Unit, you should plan accordingly to these factors, and read the NPS webpages about each of them that I have linked.

An incomprehensibly beautiful view of the Badlands

Regardless of what you do or for how long in the Badlands, I think you’ll find it to be one of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful parks in the U.S., and certainly one of the most unique. Especially with its proximity to so much other public land (including several other National Parks), it’s well worth a visit. And while you’re in the area, you might as well give in to the hype and go visit Wall Drug – because why the hell not?

The ending place of all roads.