Badlands Pinnacles

(Click image to enlarge)

Some of the terrain in Badlands National Park is incredibly rugged. Using the compressed perspective provided by a distant vantage point and a very long lens, the park's most impressive terrain is shown in this image. Some rare early morning fog accentuated by partial backlighting visually separates distant formations from nearer ones.

Badlands National park protects 242,756 acres (98240 Ha) of sharply eroded buttes and pinnacles, along with the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. Part of this area is a 64,144 acre (25958 Ha) designated wilderness area. This wilderness is one site where black-footed ferrets, one of the most endangered mammals in the world, was reintroduced. The U.S. National Park Service manages the park, with the South Unit being co-managed with the Oglala Lakota tribe.