Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ofwhichbelongedtotheBrowns,decoratethediminterior,lendingitahardscrabblehomi-
ness.Toreachthesite,exitI-90atCactusFlatandheadsouthtwomilesonRte.240,which
also leads to the northeast entrance to Badlands National Park.
Did you know…
They've been called “the vest pocket Rockies” and “the West's most intimate
mountain range,” but it was the Lakota who deemed them sacred and named
them Paha Sapa, or “Hills of Black,” because of the dense, dusky pine forests
that cloak their stony crags and canyons.
2. Badlands National Park
French fur traders who explored the West in the early 1800s called them mauvaises
terres —that is, “bad lands”—and the name stuck. First glimpsed near the park's northeast
entrance,theBadlandsaretrulyawe-inspiring—amoonscapeoftormentedridges,crumbly
spires,andprecipitouscanyonsstretchingasfarastheeyecansee.Thetorturedappearance
of the Badlands suggests some great natural calamity. But in fact, the terrain was formed
over millions of years as wind and rain sliced into volcanic ash and the soft sediments left
behind by an ancient marshland. During the Oligocene epoch (between 37 and 23 million
years ago), early mammals roamed these plains in vast numbers, and today their fossilized
remains peep from the walls and sandy ridges with the starkness of cave paintings. It is
largely due to finds in the Badlands' rich fossil beds that scientists have deemed the Oligo-
cene the golden age of mammals.
All of Badlands National Park's 244,000 acres are open to hiking, but the topography
istreacherousand,lackingeasyreferencepoints,canbedisorienting.Novicehikersshould
stick to marked trails. Many are clustered in and around the Ben Reifel Visitor Center, a
wisefirststoptoorientyourselftotheterrainanddiscoveritsgeology,history,andwildlife.
Door Trail, a quarter-mile, open-access round-trip, shows off the Badlands. Beginning at
the northern end of the Doors and Windows parking area, the trail passes through a hole in
the rim wall and ascends to a startling panorama of intricately eroded canyons and castle-
like buttes. The quarter-mile, wheelchair-accessible Fossil Exhibit Trail is five miles west
of the Visitor Center on Rte. 240 (Scenic Loop Road) and showcases fossils under trans-
parent domes—a reminder of the mighty and minor beasts that lived here eons ago.
Despite scorching summer temperatures and icy winter winds, life goes on in the Bad-
lands. Nearly 50 different grasses and 200 types of wildflowers thrive here, the latter
addingbrilliantdashesofcolortothegulliesthatdrainthesurroundingplains.Bison,mule-
deer, and pronghorns make occasional appearances, and sure-footed bighorn sheep clam-
Search WWH ::




Custom Search