The Badlands
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright called it “an endless supernatural world more spiritual than earth, but created out of it.” Paleontologist Thaddeus Culbertson described it as embodying utter loneliness without a single flower to speak pleasant things to you.
Just a few miles away, travelers are surrounded by desolate flatlands, only to be taken aback by the sudden appearance of the deep gorges and striking topography that make up this marvel. No matter how one regards the Badlands, there’s no denying the awe inspired by the first view of the thousands of eroded pinnacles stretching from the canyon floor. Thick bands of brilliant reds, oranges and yellows color the peaks, which cast contrasting shadows onto one another.
First authorized in 1929 as Badlands National Monument and reestablished as Badlands National Park in the late 1970s, the park includes more than 244,000 acres (97,125 hectares), 64,000 (25,900 hectares) of them reserved as an official wilderness area. Fossil beds in the park date back nearly 35 million years, and it is believed humans, including early mammoth hunters, have existed in this area for more than 11,000 years.
If You Go
National Park Service: Badlands
www.nps.gov/badl
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