Day 4, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

We were fascinated by the Badlands. This National Park was not foremost on our mind when we were planning this trip. It’s right off of I-90 and so we thought, why not schedule a stop here? We ended up scheduling two nights, and planned on using the second night as a flex night – we could either decide to head over to Cody, Wyoming or stay an extra night in the Badlands. Since weather at the Badlands is unpredictable, we thought this would be the best approach. As it turned out, the first of many heat domes that summer sat over the Badlands during the time we were there. Since we did not have electric hookups, we decided to just spend one night. However that one night set the stage for much intrigue.

Probably the most interesting thing we learned, was that 70 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period (that was when the dinosaurs were around), the Badlands were actually underwater! There was a sea that basically cut the North American continent in half. It is called the Western Interior Seaway. Also remember 70 million years ago, the continents were not in the same spot that they are today, so things looked alot different. Scientists do not think dinosaurs lived in this area, as no dinosaur bones have been found in the Badlands. But there were alot of other organisms that did live in that sea. And we can find them in the Pierre Shale layer of the Badlands. This is the bottom layer that is depicted on the interpretive plaque.

Well that is crazy cool, right? To think about a sea existing right smack in the middle of our continent. As time progressed, the plates that make up the North American plate continued to collide. This caused the Rocky Mountains to rise more, and the sea to disappear. This allowed for different layers to form, like the yellow mound layer.

The yellow layer is fantastic. I read about it at the visitor center at Cedar Pass, and I strained my eyes to see the yellow in the layers of the buttes near the visitor center. Of course, I am looking for these layers without much prior knowledge, so I am pretty much clueless. Nothing looked yellow to me, so I gave up on finding this yellow layer. On our way out of the park though, we drove the Badlands Loop Road which dumps us out on I-90 farther to the west. On this route, we saw the yellow mounds. And boy were we excited! That confusion that we experienced, looking for something that wasn’t there, trying to make sense of something that we don’t understand, and then seeing it as we continued to explore was truly a remarkable experience.

So on the Badlands Loop Road, we stopped at a few spots to enjoy and learn more about the area we were experiencing. The first place we stopped was the self guided interpretative trail, Fossil Exhibit Trail. This was great for the kids. At the start, there is a hut with a few plaques to help understand what we were about to see. Along the trail, casts of fossils that were actually found in this location, were presented.

Across from the Fossil Exhibit Trail, was the trailhead for the Castle Trail. This looks like a very cool hike. One I would do maybe when the kids are older, and maybe when the temperatures are not going to be in the 90’s. But I took a picture of the trail head sign and you can see the beginning of the trail, just heading off into nowhere. Looks amazing!

After this spot, we travelled through a field of white flowers and to our surprise, we found ourselves in the midst of a prairie dog town. These little guys were so cute, and so interesting. Wherever these white flowers were, you could bet there would be prairie dogs. My best guess is that these white phlox are Phlox hoodii. Prairie dogs are keystone species, meaning that hundreds of species rely on the prairie dog. They are critical to the ecosystem here. They are prey for predators like the endangered black-footed ferret which was recently reintroduced to the Badlands, they graze on the grasses maintaining the short grass prairies that you see, they alter soil chemistry, and their homes provide nesting habitats for other species.

On our way out of the Badlands, we passed Pinnacles Overlook. This is the big overlook, so give yourself time to absorb it. We did not have that time and so we kept going. However we did stop just before heading up on the switchbacks out of the park at a seemingly not so interesting pull-off. There was a mound and buttes, but when I walked to the top of the mound, a valley came into view that was so green. It was surprising after being in the dry Badlands, that such a lush valley could be found. For you wowheads out there, think Un’goro Crater.

And with that we exited the park with a greeting from our first bison. From there we stopped at Wall Drug which is REALLY not worth the 100 signs that they put up across the states of Minnesota and South Dakota advertising the place. We got a quick donut and snapped a picture with the T. rex (again not found in the Badlands) and headed off. The drive to come would be the longest and most exciting drive in my life. But I will leave that for the next post.

If you would like to learn more about the badlands, including the geological and the political roles of this park, the South Dakota Public Broadcasting, PBS, put together a show; The Badlands, Nature’s Time Capsule.