Welcome to this very special section of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota! Painted Canyon is the easiest to access and one of the most colorful badlands areas in the Park. Let’s go friend!!
Driving Interstate-94, taking Exit 32, we are in the far southeastern section of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, South Unit, called Painted Canyon. The Visitor Center area includes a huge parking lot, many outdoor informational panels, and a large covered picnic area. Oh no, the gate is closed and locked?! Painted Canyon Visitor Center, one of three in the Park, welcomes people seasonally, but may not open this year.
This Visitor Center was built in the 1960’s, and this area was also a Rest Stop for all types of vehicles. Could that have become a problem? Maybe short staffed with all the cuts in Washington (no worries, won’t get into all that). Visitor Center building needing renovations? No idea why it is closed, but there are a few cars parked on this road and folks are walking near the picnic area.
Good news! The formidable locked entrance gate keeping us out has a modification. In the middle where the two gates meet is a special section. It is a pedestrian metal door with boardwalks over the area that could seriously trip you up. Hooray! The Visitor Center itself may be closed, but the entire area is open for visitors after all. We’ll park along the entrance road and explore Painted Canyon.
Heading toward the picnic area we get our first look at Painted Canyon. From this view we see why they are called badlands–attempting a trip from Point A to Point B, wherever those points are, could be an impossible journey!
Here is the trailhead for the Painted Canyon Nature Trail, the only trail here that will take us down, make that DOWN, into the badlands. So, are we taking the trail?! NO. It is a 1-mile loop dropping down over 200 feet in a short distance at the very start of the hike. How else can you get to the bottom of the badlands?
Sorry, but I never do well on steep climbs. Here’s the real catch though, and there are warnings on the trailhead signs. You have to walk back UP that very steep trail. Nah–kind of can’t beat the views from the trail up here around the Visitor Center. We’ll see the entire west to east view of these beautiful badlands. Onward up top my friend! Yup, sometimes I don’t mind being a wimp.
The Park Service offers an excellent overview of the formation of this whole area. Take a look. The colors come from all the vegetation, amphibians, and reptiles that died in the swampland that covered this area 65 million years ago. From that time for many years vast amounts of ash from the western volcanic eruptions filled this area too.
Over millions of years it was all compressed becoming sedimentary rock. By way of water and wind erosion we have this landscape of sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, and lignite coal layers along with the huge volumes of ash becoming bentonite clay. If you would enjoy more on this geology, take a look the North Dakota Geological Survey easy-to-understand narrative. Geology can be very tough to understand. This site makes it much simpler.
Where did the name badlands come from? The Sioux natives who lived here for centuries called it Mako Shika”–“no good land”. Frontier soldiers first stationed here in the 1870’s called it “hell with fires put out”. It is tough terrain as you can see and very difficult if not impossible to traverse, but Theodore Roosevelt saw it as a “land of vast silent spaces–a place of grim beauty”.
Looking east the colors have changed. Those bluish gray lines are the bentonite clay, darker rock tends to be mudstone and coal. Very different from the lighter colors on the west side.
We’ve had visitors along the path and now they are even closer. Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina). These tiny birds are very common across the US so you may have seen them in your backyard. They are fun partners on this part of the walk.
In case I forgot to mention, I love badlands! Yes, I sometimes skip more demanding hikes, but the beauty seen from above is always stunning. As we head back to the car, this sign caught my eye and want to share. Honestly, this is a big piece of who I am. Do you have a calling in your heart too my friend?
We have so much more to see along the 36-mile Scenic Loop Drive. That will take us around much of the South Unit of the National Park with side roads to some much easier hikes. It will be fun!
Until next time my friend . . .
