BADLANDS
NATIONAL PARK
Thirty
million years
ago rivers flowed through these arid lands. From the sediment
they deposited the Badlands gradually formed. The Oglala Sioux
called this otherworldly landscape of eroded buttes and spires mako
sica, meaning "land bad."
Today
Badlands National Park protects 244,000 acres of this harsh but
beautiful environment: 64,000 acres are designated
wilderness. The largest protected mixed-grass prairie in the
United States is here,
and within park boundaries roam swift foxes, pronghorn antelopes and
white-tailed and mule deer. Reintroduced
and highly endangered black-footed ferrets are also at Badlands, as are
bison and bighorn sheep.
Badlands is
also a park of prehistoric and historic significance. The world's most abundant
Oligocene
fossil
beds
are preserved here, and
you can see the remains
of prehistoric horses, sheep, pigs and
rhinoceros
The Stronghold Unit of the park,
co-managed by the Oglala
Sioux, is the site
of historic Native American Ghost Dances. Another historic site,
Wounded Knee, is only forty-five miles south of the park boundary.
WHAT TO DO
Auto
Tours:
Badlands Loop Road winds through some of the park's
most
rugged and visually arresting terrain.
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Biking: Biking
is allowed on the park's paved loop road. Get a lift to
Pnnacles Overlook and coast downhill to the Ben
Reifel Visitor Center. You can also bike the gravel Sage Creek
Rim Road..
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Hiking: Badlands Naitonal Park has
eight trails ranging from easy to strenuous.
For an all day
hike,
take the Castle and Medicine Root Trail. Short hikes include the half
mile Cliff Shelf Nature Trail and the even shorter Fossil Exhibit
Trail.
Wildlife
Observation:
Bison can be seen from Sage Creek Rim
Road. Bighorns are more elusive but keep an eye out when on the
Door Trail, the Pinnacles Overlook or the Cliff Shelf Nature Trail.
WHERE TO STAY
Cedar Pass
Lodge
Located
within the park, the lodge rents rustic cabins.
Circle
View Guest
Ranch
A
bed and breakfast located on a working cattle ranch near the park
recommended for family vacations.
Camping
Camping is
allowed anywhere in the park as long as you follow a basic rule: your
improvised campsite must be at least a 1/2 mile from park roads or
trails. The park
also has a developed campground at Cedar Pass and a primitive
campground at Sage Creek.
NPS
Badlands Website
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