In the Big Badlands of South Dakota the BADLANDS NATIONAL MONUMENT (adm. free) has been established by the
Federal Government and placed under the supervision of the National Park Service. It comprises 50,000 acres in a strip 40 m. long
and 20 m. wide.
In developing this region, it is the aim of the Government to
preserve its pristine freshness, and to restore the animal life that
formerly abounded there. While they cannot bring back the dinosaur and the triceratops, the oreodon and tyrannosaurus rex, they
plan to have the Rocky Mountain sheep once more look down from
the jagged pinnacles, as they have done within the memory of
man, while the Rocky Mountain goats sit staring to windward for
hours from some inaccessible mountain shelf. On the plains at the
base of the white-walled formations, wary antelope and deer will
once more roam, and the lumbering buffalo will file through the
passes and browse in the draws. Only the slinking coyote will be
banned, the robber of birds nests and the killer of defenseless
young animals. So the region will return to a primitive state, almost as it was perhaps when the little three-toed horse roamed the
plains "unrestrained by the nearest rider, fifty million years away."
Half a mile away is a skyline with a broken and serrated edge
as sharply etched against the sky as if just struck off by the sculptor's chisel. The broken edges of this skyline assume every conceivable shape and form, with here a minaret and there a castle,
here a pyramid and there a tower, and here a projection that
started out to be a peak and became a glistening candelabrum;
this fantastic skyline stretches in either direction as far as the eye can see, with infinite variation.
Likewise, there is no sameness in the mighty wall below. At one
point the clay has been whipped by wind or water into a series of
fluted columns supporting a giant table. At another, a sheer wall
rises to a peak in a gigantic pyramid of dazzling whiteness. Here
and there are subtle bands of color, harmonizing with one another,
and yet distinct ; while at intervals is a band of red. And some
times upon the benches there is a touch of green where grass or
shrub is striving for a foothold, or where the stunted cedars raise
their wizened heads against the white wall behind them.
The region is particularly fantastic by moonlight, with no clear-
cut edges, but ghostly shapes and shadowy walls ; it is a city dead,
untenanted ; a thousand monuments, their faces blank, their feet in
shadow. And over all there rests a deep silence, except when some
late car roars through a pass, leaving a stillness deeper than before.
Frank Lloyd Wright, the noted architect, had this to say of the
Badlands, on a recent visit :
"As we rode, or seemed to be floating upon a splendid winding
road that seemed to understand it all and just where to go, we rose
and fell between its delicate parallels of rose and cream and sub
lime shapes, chalk white, fretted against a blue sky with high
floating clouds the sky itself seemed only there to cleanse and light the vast harmonious building scheme. Here, for once, comes
complete release from materiality. Communion with what man often
calls God is inevitable in this place."
I found this passage about the Badlands so beautifully written. The place is as inspiring now as it was when the guide was first published. At that time, 1938, the Badlands had just been designated a National Monument. In 1978 the Monument status was changed to a National Park. When you visit try to come early in the morning while it's still cool enough to enjoy some of the trails through the park. Even if you only plan on driving through, it's nicer in the morning as you'll likely want to stop at many of the overlooks.
The coordinates given are for the Ben Reifel Visitor Center at the east edge of the park where most folks start their visit.