Do you want to visit the Badlands National Park?
Up until recently, the Badlands National Park wasn't even remotely on our radar. As it turns out, this is a fascinating national park, filled with amazing history, fossils, and teeming with wildlife!
Lauren, Brady, and Brian are sitting on front of the sign at the entrance of the park. The sign says "Badlands National Park." Lauren is holding Butter the Bear.
Picture of the Badlands National Park in May 2023. Taken from one of the parks many look out areas, you can see rock formations as far as the eye can see. The different colors of the various layered rock formations are easily visible.
Did you know that South Dakota used to be covered by a sea!? Known as the Western Interior Seaway, this ancient sea covered what is now known as the Great Plains in water approximately 70 million years ago. Fossils of mosasaurs have been recovered in the oldest rock formations of the Badlands. Mosasaurs were giant marine reptiles that existed during the time of the dinosaurs. However, because dinosaurs couldn't swim, there are no dinosaur fossils in the Badlands.
The rocks of the Badlands have distinct colors and look almost like a layered cake. The oldest layer of rock--where the mosasaur fossils were found--is called the pierre shale.
The next layer is the Yellow Mounds.
After that is the Chadron Formation, which dates to 37-34 million years ago. The environment at that time was hot and wet, much like the Everglades National Park is now. Fossils of ancient alligators have been recovered from the Chadron Formation. (Literally, who knew that alligators used to roam what are now the Great Plains of South Dakota!?!?)
34-30 million years ago the area transformed into an open savannah, more like what it is today. This layer of rock is the Brule Formation. Fossils of land predators, such as a cat-like animal with saber teeth, have been recovered from the rocks in the Brule Formation.
Above the Brule Formation is the Sharps Formation, which dates back to 30-28 million years ago.
For more information about the geological formations of the Badlands, see here.
Animals at the Badlands National Park:
Of course, there aren't any alligators wandering around the Badlands nowadays. However, while you won't see any ancient alligators lounging around the rocks, you may see bison, antelope, bighorn sheep, and prairie dogs.
(There are also prairie rattlesnakes, which are South Dakota's only venomous snakes. We were very glad not to see any of THOSE sunning themselves on the rocks!)
On our way into the Badlands National Park, we saw several bison relaxing in the prairie near the entrance of the park. Bison can weigh around 2,000 pounds and run up to 30 miles per hour, so we stayed far, far away and used a telephoto lens to get these pictures.
On our second day in the park, we stopped at the Pinnacles Overlook and saw several bighorn sheep all over the side of the rocks! In this picture, there are two adult bighorn sheep and one baby sheep is visible behind the sheep that's laying down. Later on, a second baby became visible.
On our third day in the park, we stopped at the Pinnacles Overlook again and saw a single bighorn sheep.
There are prairie dogs EVERYWHERE--both in the prairie near the entrance of the park and inside of the park itself. If you get too close, you can hear them sounding an alarm. Here, two prairie dogs enjoy the sun in the prairie outside of the Badlands National Park in May 2023.
Visitor Center:
The Badlands National Park has a relatively small visitor center, the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. It has a store with maps, snacks, books, and various national park items (post cards, patches, board games, etc) for sale.
It also has an educational display all about the fossils that have been found in the park. The walk-through exhibit includes casts of several fossils, which is a wonderful tactile option for visually impaired guests, like Brady. It also has two telephones where you can listen to several animals that live in the park. That was Brady's favorite part of the visitor center! He and I were both surprised how mean bison sound!
Although the visitor center is small, it is definitely worth a stop to learn even more about the geological formations inside of the park!
Park Loop Road & Hiking:
The park loop road through the Badlands National Park is a smooth, paved, two-way road. The drive is not long--the park says to allow 1-2 hours to drive through the park (see here), which was consistent with our experience.
Although there are some steep hills and sharp curves along the road, it is not a particularly difficult drive.
View of part of the park loop road.
There are multiple opportunities to stop and get out of your car and look at the scenery. There are some hiking opportunities, but they are somewhat limited. If you are an avid hiker, you may find the park a little underwhelming. However, we did not try some of the more difficult trails (such as the Notch trail) while we were there.
We did explore the beginning of the Castle Trail, near the Fossil Exhibit Trailhead. Lauren and Brady LOVED climbing up some of the rock formations and playing with the dirt.
View of the Badlands from the Castle Trail in May 2023. This was a very cloudy, overcast day.
Darcy, Lauren, Brady, and Brian standing on top of a small rock formation. Brady is holding his white cane.
Brian, Lauren, and Brady standing on top of a small rock formation. Brady is holding his white cane.
Another view of the Badlands from the Castle Trail.
Lauren and Brady kneeling in the dirt of the Badlands. They are both wearing backpacks with water in them. Brady's cane is laying in the dirt near him.
Lauren standing in the dirt and smiling and holding her arms up on the Castle Trail, with prairie grass stretching out far behind her.
Lauren and Brady standing part of the way up a large rock formation. The rest of the rock formation towers behind them.
Lauren and Brady playing in the dirt in the Badlands.
Lauren, Brian, and Brady playing in the dirt in the Badlands.
View of some of the rock formations in the Badlands.
View from the Castle Trail near the Fossil Exhibit Trail.
In the distance, Brian and Lauren are standing on a medium rock formation, surrounded by other rock formations and dirt as far as the eye can see.
In the foreground is a dirt path. In the background, some prairie grass and large rock formations in the distance can be seen rising against the sky.
Cacti on the Castle Trail.
Photo of the rock formations near the Visitor Center.
Rock formations near the Visitor Center.
View of the rock formations from one of the many look outs along the park loop road. At the bottom of the valley, grass covers the land.
A view of the rock formations from the Pinnacles Overlook.
Picture of a white flower and some grass growing through some cracks in the dirt.
Picture of the rock formations from an overlook. Grass and some bushes cover the bottom of the valley.
Picture of Brady, Brian, and Lauren kneeling on top of a mid-sized rock formation. Behind them loom several large rock formations.
View from the Cliff Shelf Nature trail.
View of the rock formations from the Cliff Shelf Nature trail.
Lauren at the end of the Cliff Shelf Nature trail. (It was 85 degrees out and Brady was far too hot and grumpy to pose for a picture LOL!)
While there aren't too many walking trails in Badlands National Park, with the incredibly unique and visually stunning rock formations, the herds of buffalo and prairie dogs, and fossils dating back 60+ million years this park is absolutely fascinating and well worth a visit!!
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