The Badlands: One Look Wasn't Enough

Along the way to the Badlands, a dinosaur appears alongside the road. Up until now, the drive has mostly been a vast rural landscape dotted with cattle, but this is no cow. Not in the traditional sense, anyway. This is a towering 60-foot green brontosaurus standing conspicuously along Route 44.

But why?

It seems bizarrely out of place in the open field. Its neck brace, cracks and weathered appearance suggest it has been standing here for ages, although obviously not since prehistoric times. It is the first signal that this part of South Dakota might feel slightly off-kilter compared with the ponderosa pines of the Black Hills, the granite spires along Needles Highway, the sprawling prairies of Custer State Park and familiar monuments like Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial. The unexpected quirkiness adds instant texture to the drive and a sense of curiosity about what might come next.

Approaching Cedar Pass Lodge, the scenery changes dramatically again. The green grasses fade into a barren atmosphere. The surroundings are stark and exposed, with steep-sided buttes and mesas rising from the terrain. Wind moves through the open space with little resistance. Settling into a cabin at the lodge, it is difficult to imagine a better home base. There is something remarkable about staying in the center of this otherworldly environment and knowing there are several days ahead to experience it rather than only a few hours.

The strangeness escalates almost immediately upon heading onto the scenic byway. Towering pinnacles dominate the horizon, while eroded formations resembling alien mushrooms rise in strangely surreal shapes. Deep ravines cut across the terrain. Bands of red, yellow, tan and gray appear painted across the topography.

Walking the Notch Trail feels vaguely extraterrestrial. Sporadic patches of green grass stand in stark contrast to the muted, steep-sided formations surrounding the trail. Birds chirp with strange clicks and squeaks that sound remarkably like R2-D2. Surrounded by cliffs and open sky, familiar points of reference begin to disappear.

At a vista not far from the Pinnacles, the effect becomes even stranger. A couple of monks stand near the edge of a cliff. From a distance, their robes moving in the wind and their silhouettes against the pale terrain briefly resemble Tusken Raiders, giving the entire scene an unmistakable Star Wars quality.

Between the strange formations, electronic-sounding birds and robed figures in the distance, it is difficult not to wonder whether George Lucas ever found his way here.

The visual oddities continue as we decide to drive the scenic byway once again, this time toward Wall. One pass was hardly enough.

This time, the park offers something different. Near its edge, the terrain begins to soften. There is more green, more vegetation and noticeably more wildlife. Where grasses spread across the land, prairie dogs appear in abundance. Even bison and pronghorn can be seen grazing.

Then come the Wall Drug billboards.

What exactly is Wall Drug?

Apparently, the answer involves five-cent coffee, a doughnut, jackalopes and a story about free ice water offered to thirsty travelers.

At this point, the absurdity is beginning to feel perfectly normal.

The biggest surprise, however, is a bighorn sheep standing along the road only feet from the car. It is my first time seeing one in the wild, and close enough that its enormous curled horns can be studied without binoculars or a camera zoom.

After several days of otherworldly emptiness, the Badlands have become intensely alive. What first felt like another planet has given way to birds, prairie dogs, bison, bighorn sheep and fellow travelers moving through the landscape. Somewhere back along Route 44, there is still an inexplicably placed dinosaur.

Even the bunny outside the cabin is getting a second look, just to be sure it isn’t a jackalope.