The Big Badlands Overlook is the first grand view as you enter Badlands National Park from the east. Located in southwestern South Dakota these badlands occupy 244,000 acres. The arid land, covered with sharply eroded buttes and pinnacles, is unusable by ranchers and farmers, but is home to the Ogalala Sioux Tribe and includes sites of 1890s Ghost Dances.
The Ghost Dance era marked the end of typical Indian life as great change came with more and more homesteaders moving into South Dakota. Many Ogalala Sioux became followers of the Indian prophet Wovoca. His vision called for his people to dance the Ghost Dance and wear Ghost Shirts, that would be impervious to bullets. Wovoca predicted that the white man would vanish and their hunting grounds would be restored. It was not to be. In late December, 1890, a band of Minneconjou Sioux Indians crossed a paths with the U.S. Army. Just 45 miles south of the park, nearly two hundred Indians and thirty soldiers were killed. The massacre at Wounded Knee Battleground was the last major conflict between the American Indian and the U.S. military.
The park's 19 mile long loop offers eleven scenic overviews. It is best viewed at sunset or sunrise, when shadows create impressive contrasts and enrich the soil's color.