Badlands Situated in southwestern South Dakota, the Badlands National Park marries mixed-grass prairies with pinnacles, spires, canyons, and otherworldly buttes of varied colors and shapes to create a lunar-worthy landscape.
Driving east from Rapid City took us towards the Badlands National Park and on to the Badlands Loop and its contrasting scenery of pointed peaks and flat-topped rock structures.
Also recently, a militant, armed group of Lakota has taken over the southern unit of Badlands National Park, which lies within the reservation boundary, and has intermittently fired at visitors and Park Service employees.