Badlands National Park is named for its unique geologic formations, characterized by dry terrain with soft, clay-rich sedimentary rocks eroded by wind and water. The Lakota, who used the area as a hunting ground for 11,000 years, called it “Mako Sica,” meaning “bad lands.” French fur trappers also referred to it as “les mauvaises terres à traverser,” or “bad lands to travel across,” due to its difficult terrain and extreme weather.

Interestingly, in 1922, when the park was first proposed, it was considered for the name “Wonderland National Park”, and for good reason. The park boasts stunning geological features, the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the U.S., and one of the richest fossil beds in the world, still revealing prehistoric bones today.