Browse
Six grounds, twenty-two entries
The whole survey on one page — every section, every guide, no menu required.
01 — The Black HillsAn island of granite and pine in the middle of the grass.
- 01
The Granite Core
Why the Black Hills are an island of rock in a sea of grass, and what that means underfoot.
- 02
Spearfish Canyon, End to End
A limestone slot with waterfalls, pines and the best short drive in the state.
- 03
The Custer Loop
Granite spires, pigtail bridges and open grassland inside one circuit.
- 04
Wind Cave and the Boxwork
One of the world's longest caves, and the fretwork found almost nowhere else.
02 — The BadlandsLayered, eroding ground that reads like a diagram.
- 01
The Badlands, Read as Layers
Every band of colour is a different world. How to read the wall from the bottom up.
- 02
Walking the Badlands Edge
Where the grass stops and the erosion starts, and how to stand on the seam.
- 03
The Erosion Clock
This landscape is disappearing at a measurable rate. What that actually looks like.
- 04
What the Beds Hold
Why these particular rocks are full of bone, and what has come out of them.
03 — The Missouri RiverThe river that cuts the state in two.
- 01
The Missouri and Its Bluffs
The river that cuts the state in two, and the ground it carved to do it.
- 02
Oahe and the Big Water
What happened when the river was dammed, and the shoreline it left.
- 03
Pierre, on the River
A small capital on a big river, and the bluffs above it.
- 04
Crossing the River
Where you can get from one side to the other, and why it matters here.
04 — Prairie & CoteauGlacial ground, grass and shallow water.
- 01
The Coteau des Prairies
A vast wedge of glacial ground, and the lakes and potholes it left behind.
- 02
The Northern Prairie
Flat, huge and more varied than it looks from the road.
- 03
Short Grass, Tall Grass
The state changes grass halfway across, and everything else changes with it.
- 04
The Pothole Country
Thousands of shallow wetlands, and why the birds depend on them.
05 — Small TownsPlaces shaped by the ground they sit on.