If you come across a fossil while exploring the Badlands, please do not move it. Most of these fossils are about 30 - 40 million years younger than the last dinosaurs to roam the earth. Fossils in the Badlands date back to the late Eocene and Oligocene epochs, when three-toed horses, camels, creodonts and other intriguing mammals roamed the world - so don’t expect to find any dinosaurs here.
Saber tooth cats aren’t the only creatures hidden among the layers upon layers of sediment in the Badlands, though - fossils of all kinds of animals and plants including rhinoceroses and marine reptiles can be found in the park. Much to her surprise, this visitor’s discovery turned out to be an incredibly rare, well-preserved skull of a saber tooth cat. In 2010, a young park visitor came across a fossil at Badlands National Park and reported it to rangers. Saber Tooth Fossil at Badlands National Park. Geologists estimate that after another 500,000 years, the Badlands will have eroded away completely - so don’t wait a half million years to visit. Though this process began roughly 500,000 years ago, it is still going on now, eroding the Badlands at the rate of about one inch per year. After all of these layers were deposited, waters flowing from the Black Hills began to wear into this sediment, carving valleys and other shapes into the landscape to create the Badlands as we know them today. Over tens of millions of years, layers of sedimentary rock were deposited in this region as the environment changed drastically from sea, to subtropical forest, to open savanna. The rugged rock formations that many people think of when they hear “Badlands” were not always here. Photo by Andreas Eckert ( Its geologic formations are millions of years old. We hope these cool facts about the Badlands inspire you to start planning your own adventure.īadlands National Park. Today, the Badlands are a great place for hiking, fossil hunting, taking a scenic drive and spotting wildlife.
Considering all that this park has to offer, you might be wondering - what’s so bad about the Badlands? The Lakota people dubbed this region “mako sica,” or “bad lands,” long ago because its rocky terrain, lack of water and extreme temperatures made it difficult to traverse. We have many events year-round and Labor Day is our big celebration.Near the Black Hills of South Dakota, Badlands National Park grants visitors access to 244,000 acres of scenic landscapes, incredible geological formations, diverse wildlife and much more. Leahy Bowl hosts many baseball games each summer and is well preserved by the community. The Winner Drive-In Theatre is one of very few Drive-Ins left in the USA. If you happen to visit Winner in the summer, you will not be disappointed with the events at each of these attractions. Should you desire to fish on the Missouri River, it is a scenic 30 mile drive.Ī couple of unique landmarks to Winner are Leahy Bowl and the Winner Drive-In Theatre. The Winner Youth Fishing Pond is a wonderful way to spend the afternoon fishing. Deer, turkey, prairie dogs, grouse, prairie chicken, dove, and coyotes are also hunted in the area. Winner is known for top-notch pheasant hunting. Our open prairies and rolling hills provide an excellent habitat for a sportsman’s paradise. Our farmers & ranchers also harvest a great deal of wheat and corn. Tripp County is the largest cattle producer in South Dakota. Agriculture is the backbone of our community.
Winner is located in south central South Dakota along the Oyate Trail at the crossroads of SD Highway 44 and US Highways 18 & 183.
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