This intricate maze of rivulets and creeks cascading across the ground is a small part of the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. This is a land of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles, and spires blended with the largest area of undisturbed mixed-grass prairie in the United States. The First Nations Lakota people were the first to call this place “mako sica” or “land bad.”

Extreme temperatures, lack of water, and the exposed rugged terrain led to this name. French-Canadian fur trappers also called it “les mauvais terres pour traverse,” or “bad lands to travel through.” For the full story on this image visit the corresponding page on Where Eagles Fly