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Badlands National Park is located in southwestern South Dakota. It became a National Monument in 1939 and reached National Park status in 1978. The Badlands are famous for their sharply eroded features, all lying within the largest mixed-grass prairie in the United States. The park encompasses over 242,000 acres (64,000 acres are designated as federal wilderness) and hosts almost a million visitors annually. The official National Park Service website for Badlands National Park is http://www.nps.gov/badl.
The geology that makes up the Badlands buttes consists mostly of Oligocene and volcanic ash. The buttes can be divided into three primary formations. The topmost layers are known as the Brule and Sharps Formations, deposited by rivers during the Oligocene Epoch from 26 to 32 million years ago. A think layer of ash, known as the Rockford Ash, marks the bottom of this formation. Beneath the Brule and Sharps Formation is the Chadron Formation. It was deposited between 32 and 37 million years ago as part of a giant floodplain. Fossils indicate the climate was subtropical, and the formation is known for large, rhinoceros-like mammal fossils. The bottom formation is the Pierre Shale. Deposited between 68 and 77 million years ago by a shallow, inland sea, the formation consists mostly of shale that began as black mud on the bottom of the sea. The sea disappeared with the uplift of the Black Hills and Rocky Mountains. The current Badlands are the result of erosion that began about 500,000 years ago. The landforms average about one inch of erosion per year, and it is likely that in another 500,000 years the Badlands will have been completely eroded away. (Source: National Park Service)
Our original trip plans included camping just outside Badlands National Park, but upon our arrival we found the place nearly deserted. It was the first of many indications during our trip that suggested we had come well before tourist season. We took a bit of time in the Badlands to stretch our legs, get a closer look at the landforms, take pictures, and lean into a strong Dakota wind. Instead of camping in the Badlands, we decided to proceed out of the park and stay in Wall, home of the world-famous Wall Drug.
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