Exploring Nebraska’s Pine Ridge and Toadstool Geologic Park

Taking the Trails Less Traveled

Growing up in one of the flattest portions of the Colorado High Plains, I was always mesmerized by mountains and broken country. I was fortunate to spend a summer working in western Nebraska and the Pine Ridge. It’s an amazing place filled with pronghorn, mule deer, elk, mountain lions, and many other species. It’s also a fantastic place to watch raptors. Provided is one route example to spend a day in this fairly unknown but fantastic part of Nebraska. Taking your UTV, ATV, or bikes can provide another way to sample more of this area. Additional research will allow you to craft a few days of adventure that will provide a lot of scenery, varying terrain, and wildlife viewing. Utilizing onX Maps will help you find many of the short trails interspersed through the Nebraska National Forest and the Oglala National Grassland.

Overview

Route:
Black Hills Overlook (Nebraska National Forest, Chadron State Park area) → Little Wolves area (FR 723 / Bordeaux Rd) → Crawford → Toadstool Geologic Park
Distance: ~55–60 miles (depending on exact trail access points)
Travel time: ~1½ hours driving time (plus plenty of stops!)
Best season: Late spring to early fall; avoid after heavy rain (gravel roads become impassable).

Segment 1 — Pine Ridge Escarpment (Black Hills Overlook → Bordeaux Rd / Little Wolves)

Leaving the Black Hills Overlook near Chadron State Park, you descend from the forested Pine Ridge, a high escarpment that runs east–west across northwestern Nebraska. But you are not done with the Pine Ridge, as you will climb back to the top on the Little Wolves Road.

Elevation: About 4,700 feet at the overlook

Scenery: Ponderosa pines, steep draws, and buttes—a surprising mountain-like landscape in the middle of the Great Plains

The Pine Ridge is a dissected plateau of Oligocene-age sedimentary rock (roughly 30–34 million years old), part of the White River Group.

The Little Wolves area, south of Chadron on
FR 723, showcases the mixed-grass prairie and open pine savannas typical of the Nebraska National Forest, Bessey Ranger District (Pine Ridge Unit).

The road surface is gravel, winding through undulating hills. Short side trails needing a high-clearance 4×4 are available.

Segment 2 — Crawford to the Oglala National Grassland

From Little Wolves, return north to US-20, turn west to Crawford, then go north on NE-2/71. You quickly leave the wooded ridge behind and enter the high plains. The forested hills fall away to open shortgrass prairies, dotted with yucca and prickly pear.

Elevation: Drops from ~4,600 feet near Chadron to ~3,800 feet near Toadstool

Landscape: Wide valleys, isolated buttes, and dry creek beds

Here, you cross from the Pine Ridge into the Oglala National Grassland, one of the most remote corners of Nebraska.

Segment 3 — Toadstool Road (#904) to Toadstool Geologic Park

Turn west off NE-2/71 onto Toadstool Road (FS 904)—an unpaved track that follows Big Cottonwood Creek through the Grassland. The road winds through ranchland and badlands for 12 miles before arriving at the Toadstool Geologic Park & Campground.

Here, the badlands terrain exposes the White River Group’s Brule and Chadron formations, spectacularly eroded into hoodoos, spires, and balanced “toadstool” shapes.

Chadron Formation (below): Greenish-gray claystones deposited in low, swampy environments (~37–34 million years ago)

Brule Formation (above): Reddish-brown and tan siltstones from dry upland plains (~33–30 million years ago)

The park is sometimes called “Nebraska’s Badlands,” though it is geologically distinct from the South Dakota Badlands to the north. The entire region tells the story of the Oligocene Epoch, when shifting climates transformed subtropical forests into the earliest grasslands of North America.