A stunning mix of prairie and colorful ranges of constantly eroding hills form this national park. We’ve seen the erosion happening in person. It was raining the first afternoon we went to the park. Badlands hills are comprised of bentonite clay which is extremely erosive and slippery when wet. Thankfully, the rain stopped the next day and the surface dried a bit for us to do some hikes through what seemed like the surface of another planet.

Notch Trail is a must if it’s not raining. They call it strenuous, but the only difficult part is going up a hill using a log ladder. You are rewarded with a nice view at the end of the trail, but the walk through the maze of colorful spires and buttes is a lot of fun as well.

The Door trail is a nice walk as well, especially if the ground is dry enough to go beyond the boardwalk.