Best Badlands
Updated Daily
Conata Basin is an intermixed grassland and shrubland area located in southwestern South Dakota, adjacent to Badlands National Park. The region is ecologically significant for its role as the site of one of the world's most successful black-footed ferret reintroduction programs. The basin's extensiv...
Little Missouri National Grassland encompasses more than one million acres of prairie land within North Dakota. This area’s notable badlands topography and diverse mixed-grass ecosystem provide unique opportunities for scientific research and conservation. It is primarily utilized by the U.S. Forest...
Badlands National Park protects a unique landscape of sculpted badlands in southwestern South Dakota. The park’s dramatic geology features extensive prairie formations and significant fossil deposits dating back to the Oligocene epoch. Paleontologists and researchers study these fossils, primarily m...
Buffalo Gap National Grassland spans nearly 600,000 acres across South Dakota’s mixed-grass prairie landscape. This US Forest Service managed area is notable for its significant badlands formations and crucial role in black-footed ferret conservation efforts. It provides opportunities for ecological...
The Painted Desert is a badlands region in northeastern Arizona named for the bands of red, orange, pink, purple, and grey visible across its eroded hills. The coloration derives from iron and manganese minerals within the Chinle Formation, a sedimentary rock layer laid down during the Late Triassic...
Sheep Mountain Table is a broad, flat-topped landform in the South Unit of Badlands National Park, South Dakota. Its elevated surface overlooks eroded pinnacles, mixed-grass prairie, and the White River valley, providing a different perspective from the park's main paved scenic road. Access typicall...
Oglala National Grassland is a federally managed grassland in northwestern Nebraska administered by the U.S. Forest Service. Its mixed-grass prairie and badlands include Toadstool Geologic Park, where erosion has exposed distinctive formations and fossil-bearing strata. The grassland also contains t...
Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge is a 1.1-million-acre refuge in Montana established in 1936, encompassing badlands, prairies, and the Fort Peck Reservoir and supporting elk, pronghorn, and sage grouse.
The Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a United States national park located in the badlands of western North Dakota. Established as a national park in 1978, it commemorates the 26th President's formative experiences ranching in the Dakota Territory during the 1880s. The park is divided into three...
Petrified Forest National Park is located in northeastern Arizona and was established as a national park in 1962, having previously been designated a national monument in 1906. The park contains extensive deposits of Late Triassic petrified wood, primarily from trees of the genus Araucarioxylon that...
The Tabernas Desert is a semi-arid badlands region located in the province of Almería in southeastern Spain. Covering roughly 280 square kilometers, it is recognized as mainland Europe's only true desert, receiving less than 300 millimeters of annual rainfall. Its unique, eroded lunar landscapes mad...
Badlands is the 1989 self-titled debut album by the American hard rock band of the same name. The group featured guitarist Jake E. Lee, previously known for his work with Ozzy Osbourne, and vocalist Ray Gillen, who had briefly sung for Black Sabbath. Released on Atlantic Records, the album is distin...
Slim Buttes is a narrow ridge of buttes in Harding County, South Dakota, site of the September 1876 Battle of Slim Buttes during the Great Sioux War.
The Bardenas Reales is a semi-desert natural region and badlands area located in the Navarre region of Spain. Covering approximately 415 square kilometers, the landscape is characterized by deep erosion creating plateaus, ravines, and distinctive rock formations made of clay, chalk, and sandstone. I...
Bullion Butte is a prominent isolated butte in Billings County, North Dakota, rising within the Little Missouri National Grassland near the badlands.
Sentinel Butte is a butte and small community in Golden Valley County, North Dakota, situated at the edge of the Little Missouri Badlands.
Castle Rock is an isolated sandstone butte in Butte County, South Dakota, rising prominently above the surrounding High Plains grassland.
Haystack Butte is an isolated butte in South Dakota named for its rounded, haystack-like profile rising above the surrounding Great Plains grassland.
