Badlands National Park,
South Dakota
The Badlands National Park in South Dakota is a bit of
a celebrity. The scenery has been used in many different
movies, such as Dances with Wolves, because of its large,
open range for stargazing and its famous striped stone
structures. The Badlands Wall, a 100-mile span of sharp
cliffs and steep buttes, makes up the popular part of the
park. The name “Badlands” comes from the danger that
traveling through the area poses. Within the rock, you’ll
discover thousands of complete fossils that have been
uncovered, ranging from prehistoric species of animals,
to arrowheads and tools made by Native Americans.
The animal fossils are remarkable, allowing us to get a
glimpse of the wildlife that existed in that area more than
30 million years ago. Many of the fossils are of marine
life, since the area was once completely underwater. Over
time, the water dispersed and the prairies leveled out, but
tortoise shells and fish fossils still remain today. The water that was once a part of the Badlands left its mark on
the stone structures, and that explains some of the stripes
seen on them.
Native American tribes, such as the Paleo and Lakota Indians, and the Great Sioux Nation, used to use the wide46 Summer 2015 Adventure Outdoors
open prairies below the wall as their hunting grounds. From
the top, they could scan the prairie for herds of bison, and
carry out their hunting methods by scaling the stone structures at record speed and vanishing into the low grasses beneath. There are two campgrounds within the park: one with
modern accommodations, and one without. Buffalo still
populate the area and wander through the campsites, which
makes for an interesting experience, but don’t get too close.
Rattlesnakes, bighorn sheep, and venomous spiders call the
Badlands home as well. The black-footed ferret, the most
endangered land mammal in North America, was reintroduced to the park and now lives in the protected area once
again. If you camp
out in the Badlands,
don’t forget to look
up. The frothy rays
of light that swim in
between the many
clusters of stars provide a view unlike
anything you’ve ever
seen before.