The Spanish called these places El Malpais, "the bad lands." French-Canadian trappers called them les mauvaises terres a traverser, the "bad lands to cross." The Sioux dubbed them mako sica, "land bad."

No wonder.

Regarding scenery, the American West is probably most famous for its ranges upon ranges of mountains. I have seen most of those ranges and spent a considerable amount of time in them, and there are good reasons that people return to them again and again and again.

But we sometimes overlook the badlands that spread across large portions of every Western state. Although some lie within famous national parks and monuments and are world-renowned, many others beckon from roadsides in uncelebrated glory. Badlands, perhaps the most appropriately named landforms there are, come in all shapes and colors, and they are in some ways far more visually dramatic than the mountains are. No, they are not as high or as monumental, but they are rugged, foreboding, and hauntingly beautiful. The "moonscapes" that frequently characterize badland terrain do indeed seem like alien worlds and turn some people away due to their seeming barrenness and inhospitability, but those who have explored the ridges and washes of these moonscapes know that secrets abound among them-- hardy flowers whose colors defy their harsh climate, animals with amazing adaptations, and endless formations seemingly created by a visionary touched with much brilliance and not a little insanity.

The badlands are at their best early and late in the day, but some of them are so colorful that they make for decent photographs all day long. They are probably at their very best when strong, low sunlight is hitting them while dark storm clouds loom behind. Snow on the badlands is an exciting and beautiful thing to see, and they are ghostly and mysterious under a full moon.

Go in. Explore.

SP Badlands Pages

Following is a listing of badlands-themed pages that exist on SP. They are broken into areas/ranges, mountains/rocks, and canyons; they are then organized alphabetically by state. Those pages are attached to this one as children. Only locations in the U.S. are included.

There are other areas, such as California's Death Valley National Park and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Texas's Big Bend National Park, and Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, that have a great deal of badlands terrain but whose pages do not focus on it. Those pages are not attached as children to this one.

There are numerous photos attached to this page that represent locations that do not have SP pages; please peruse them, as they may inspire actual plans.

Little Book Cliffs area, Colorado

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

Areas and Ranges

Arizona

Petrified Forest National Park

Colorado

Paint Mines

Kansas

Monument Rocks

Montana

Makoshika State Park

Nevada

Cathedral Gorge State Park

North Dakota

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

South Dakota

Badlands National Park

Texas

Caprock Canyonlands

Utah

Book Cliffs
Cedar Breaks National Monument

Wyoming

Badger Basin
Great Divide Basin
McCullough Peak Badlands

Mountains and Rocks

California

Badlands Peak
Manly Beacon
Red Cathedral

Colorado

Mount Garfield
Pawnee Buttes

Texas

Cerro Castellan

Utah

Mount Elliott
The Wickiup
Queen of the Wash
Buckmaster Hills

Wyoming

Continental Peak
McCullough Benchmark
McCullough Peak
McCullough Peaks East
Peak 6442
Peak 5138
Peak 5090
Peak 4990
Peak 4932
Peak 4923
Polecat Bench

Canyons

California

Golden Canyon/Gower Gulch
Twenty Mule Team Canyon

Nebraska

Big Cottonwood Creek Canyon

New Mexico

Tent Rocks National Monument

Texas

North & South Prong Canyons
Palo Duro Canyon

Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park

Images



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