It could be considered some of the “baddest” land in Nebraska, where even a cow might have to pack her own feed bag to survive.

Toadstool Geologic Park, in what some call Nebraska’s badlands in the Oglala National Grassland north of Crawford, is noted for its unique geologic formations, which look like fallen toadstools.

But the area is also recognized for its sizable fossil deposits, evidence that while this landscape may look uninviting today, it was a highway for prehistoric migrating animals 30 million years ago — including miniature horses, humpless camels, gigantic tortoises, pigs and even rhinoceroses.

Why Toadstool Park?

The first human visitors to this region thought they were hiking through a land of giant toadstools, created by the forces of wind and water erosion that swept away the soft clay faster than the hard standstone rock that caps it. Since this early discovery in the late 1800s, many of those toadstool formations have fallen from their pedestals, victims of further erosion of the clay base.

Hiking around Toadstool Geologic Park could seem a little like hiking on the moon, with high, bald ridges and little, if any, vegetation. In 1984, the U.S. Forest Service, which administers this park, built a sod house near the site of another original “soddie” that was built in 1929, offering park visitors a look into the lives of homesteaders in this vicinity.

There is no water available at the park, but there are vault toilets and three hiking trails through the buttes and canyons — including a 1-mile loop through the “toadstool” formations; the Bison Trail, which is a 3-mile hike one way up the canyon to the nearby Hudson-Meng Education and Research Center; and the Great Plains Trail, which is a 5-mile loop that intersects with 918 Road.

The park is open year-round and has interpretive signs. Camping and picnic sites are available. Learn more at fs.usda.gov.