Badlands National Park - South Dakota Trip 2011

My Family and I took a trip to Keystone, South Dakota this Summer to see all the sites in that area. We hit Badlands National Park first and what a site it was. It was surreal driving across the South Dakota Grasslands where you see a lot of rolling hills covered with grass and then all of the sudden you run into the Badlands. It was great landscapes where ever you looked and the colors and layers of the eroding land was amazing! Enjoy

Here is some more info on the Badlands:
Badlands National Park, in southwest South Dakota, United States preserves 242,756 acres (982 km²) of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest protected mixed grass prairie in the United States. Efforts to preserve this uniquely scenic geologic setting east of the Black Hills led to the establishment of Badlands National Monument in 1929; it became a national park in 1978. This park is marked by rugged terrain and rock formations that resemble landscapes from another world.

The Badlands Wilderness, designated by Congress in 1976, is located entirely within Badlands National Park and is managed by the National Park Service. Badlands Wilderness includes 64,250 acres (260 km²) of the most pristine sections of the national park. Within this wilderness, buffalo still roam free and visitors can also find bighorn sheep, coyotes, mule deer, as well as the most endangered land mammal in North America, the black-footed ferret, which was re-introduced to the Wilderness area.

The Stronghold Unit of the park, which is located within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, is co-managed with the Oglala Sioux tribe. This is the site of the Stronghold Table where in the 1890s the Sioux Indians performed their Ghost Dances.

Strikingly beautiful and mystical, the Badlands take their name from both the Lakota Sioux tribe as well as French fur trappers. The Lakota referred to the area as Mako Sica while the French called it les mauvaises terres a traverser. Both mean bad lands, or a difficult place cross.

Read More Here:
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Badlands_National_Park

Background music used here from Kevin MacLeod
Title: Numinous Shine
http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/index.html?keywords=numinous+shine

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Badlands
• National
• Park
• South
• Dakota
• Rapid
• City
• Keystone
• USA
• Wilderness
• Black
• Hills

[francinityshiniya]

hard to believe i live here...........



[MoviesMusicNature]

@francinityshiniya As in The Badlands National Park or South Dakota?

[rolmos213]

Amazing!!! We are planning on going here for the first time from the midwest next June....Any recommendations on how to plan our day here? Is there lodging close by? We will be on our way to yellowstone but would like to take the time to stop by here as well.

Thanks for sharing!!!

[MoviesMusicNature]

@rolmos213 From what I recall there isn't any lodging real close to the Badlands entrance we went into. Where we came out of the Badlands there is a city called Wall where the famous Wall Drug is and I know there are some places to stay there. So you would have to drive past it first to stay at Wall unless you stayed more east of Badlands. There are so many places to stop in Badlands I'm sure you could spend nearly a day just seeing everything and its very windy most of the time. Enjoy!

[dacman17]

Wow! Some beautiful scenery there.

[MoviesMusicNature]

@dacman17 It really was an Awe inspiring experience here at Badlands. Amazing at all the formations all over the place for miles and miles... Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

[Machi74005]

@rolmos213 Rapid City, SD is the closest major town to there. It's probably abou 40 miles or so up highway 44 northwest out of the Badlands. I believe there is a KOA campground very close to the entrance to Badlands National Park.

[sxasher2]

South Dakota is beautiful and I feel like I'm part of the video! Thank you so very much for sharing with us! Hugs and woofs from your friend Harley Dog :-)

[timd941]

@MoviesMusicNature I went to Mt.Rushmore, the Crazy Horse memorial, the Badlands, and Wall a few weeks after you did. I took lots of pictures. It was windy and I was there the whole day as well.