Toadstool Geologic Park is located in the

Oglala National Grassland The Oglala National Grassland is a United States National Grassland in the northwest corner of Nebraska. It is in northern Sioux and northwestern Dawes counties, on the borders with South Dakota and Wyoming. It is in size and is one of the sm ...

in far northwestern

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

. It is operated by the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...

. It contains a

badlands Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, ...

landscape and a reconstructed

sod house The sod house or soddy was a common alternative to the log cabin during frontier settlement of the Great Plains of North America in the 1800s and early 1900s. Primarily used at first for animal shelters, corrals, and fences, they came into use ...

. The park is named after its unusual rock formations, many of which resemble toadstools.

About

Toadstool Geologic Park is said to be the "

of Nebraska" or the "desert of the Pine Ridge." The park is open 24 hours a day. Toadstool Park is north of

Crawford, Nebraska Crawford is a city in Dawes County, Nebraska, Dawes County, Nebraska, United States, in the Great Plains region. The population was 997 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It was incorporated in 1886 and was named for the late Captain ...

; to get to the park, take

Nebraska Highway 2 Nebraska Highway 2 (N-2) is a state highway in Nebraska consisting of two discontinuous segments. The western segment begins at the South Dakota border northwest of Crawford and ends southeast of Grand Island at an intersection with Interstat ...

Nebraska Highway 71 Nebraska Highway 71 is a highway in western Nebraska. Its southern terminus is at the Colorado border south of Kimball, as a continuation of Colorado State Highway 71. Its northern terminus is at the South Dakota border northwest of Crawfor ...

to Toadstool Road. There is a 1-mile loop trail within the park. There are many

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s along the trail; removing fossils is not allowed. Many fossils of large prehistoric animals such as

entelodont Entelodontidae is an extinct family of pig-like artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates) which inhabited the Northern Hemisphere (Asia, Europe, and North America) from the late Eocene to the early Miocene epochs, about 38-19 million years ago. Their ...

s and

hyaenodon ''Hyaenodon'' ("hyena-tooth") is an Extinction (biology), extinct genus of Carnivore, carnivorous Placentalia, placental mammals from extinct tribe Hyaenodontini within extinct subfamily Hyaenodontinae (in extinct Family (biology), family Hyaenod ...

s have been found here. Camping is available and there are two toilets. The Bison Trail to

Hudson-Meng Bison Kill The Hudson-Meng Bison Bonebed site, officially named the Hudson-Meng Education and Research Center, is a fossil site located in the Oglala National Grassland of Sioux County, Nebraska 20 miles northwest of Crawford. It contains the 10,000-year ...

is a 3-mile hike. The route crosses Whitehead Creek, which forms a ravine splitting the plain between the geologic park and the kill bed interpretive center. WhiteheadCreekOglalaGrassland

Nearby attractions

Fort Robinson Fort Robinson is a former United States Army, U.S. Army fort and now a major feature of Fort Robinson State Park, a public recreation and historic preservation area located west of Crawford, Nebraska, Crawford on U.S. Route 20 in the Pine Ri ...

Nebraska National Forest The Nebraska National Forest is a United States National Forest located within the U.S. state of Nebraska. The total area of the national forest is . The forest is managed by the U.S. Forest Service's Nebraska Forests and Grasslands Supervisor ...

Chadron State Park Chadron State Park is a public recreation area located within the Nebraska National Forest, south of Chadron, Nebraska, in the northwestern portion of the state. The park's include a portion of the Pine Ridge escarpment and Chadron Creek. The ...

Trailside Museum of Natural History at Fort Robinson State Park The Trailside Museum of Natural History is located in the historic Army Theatre at Fort Robinson State Park, three miles west of Crawford, Nebraska on U.S. Route 20. History The building served as a theater and gymnasium for the Fort Robinso ...

References

External links

Toadstool Geological Park and Campground - US Forest Service Toadstool Geologic Park Photo & Links - Chadron State College

Federal lands in Nebraska Geology of Nebraska Protected areas of Dawes County, Nebraska United States Forest Service protected areas Landforms of Dawes County, Nebraska Parks in Nebraska Badlands of the United States {{DawesCountyNE-geo-stub