For the traveler crossing the flat western plains on the interstate, the Painted Canyon overlook arrives like a revelation. One moment the country is level wheat and pasture; the next the ground falls away into a vast, silent bowl of banded buttes and eroded draws, painted in bands of red, gray and gold that shift with the passing light.

The Prairie's Sudden Edge

It is the badlands' great first impression, and by design the most accessible one — a visitor center and overlook set right beside the highway, where a weary traveler can stretch, gasp at the view, and walk a short trail down into the canyon's rim country. Many a family vacation has been rerouted by that first unexpected glimpse.

From the almanac's reckoning:

• The overlook sits just off the interstate beside a visitor center.
• The canyon's bands shift color through the day with the changing light.
• A short rim trail lets travelers walk down into the badlands.

The light is the canyon's chief performer, and the same view rewards the dawn visitor and the sunset one with entirely different palettes. The almanac counsels the traveler never to pass the Painted Canyon by, for the plains hold few surprises so sudden or so grand.