Hiking in Badlands National Park

If you want to travel back in time, there is perhaps no better place to choose for a hiking trip than the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Here centuries of wind and water have carved out deep canyons where dinosaurs roamed millions of years ago and where scientists today enjoy some of the most extensive fossil deposits in the world, including the remains of saber-toothed tigers, three-toed horses. and ancient turtles.

Near the Conata picnic area, at a site known as Pig Wallow, which is still being actively excavated today, scientists have discovered the bones of a remarkable hornless rhinoceros known as Subhyracodon and, if you’re lucky enough, you may Talk to one of the paleontologists as you walk around the area.

However, not all of Badlands National Park is a barren, moon-like landscape, and the park also includes some 64,000 acres of wild pasture grazed by bighorn sheep and American buffalo and home to the speedy fox and black-footed ferret, among many others. creatures. You will also see many deer and antelope roaming this section of the park.

Within the park’s 240,000 acres, hiking is a favorite activity with trails ranging from fairly easy hikes for beginners to trails that will challenge even the most experienced hiker. But whatever your level of experience, the end result when you climb the jagged spiers and look across the meadow below will be worth the effort to get there.

One fascinating area worth exploring is the Stronghold District, half of which is within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. During WWII, this area was used as a firing range and this section of the park is today home to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, where you can take a look at the buildings that once housed one of the major defense facilities in the United States. United.

For thirty years during the Cold War, these facilities were manned 24 hours a day and today they house a fascinating museum where you can still see the underground launch control facility and a complete silo with a now disarmed nuclear missile.

Another unique feature of Badlands National Park is the settler houses built from grass blocks and heated with buffalo chips. Although the Great Dust Bowl period in the 1930s eventually drove the settlers from the land, much of the evidence of the valiant struggle they waged so many years ago still remains today.

Badlands National Park is a wonderful place for hiking with its golden, colored sands and azure blue skies, offering much for the hobbyist and avid hiker alike. However, if you decide to visit the area, stop by the Ben Reifel Visitor Center, where you will find a wealth of information that will be especially useful if you are backpacking the area and planning to stay overnight.