South Dakota is a land of bewildering variety and breathtaking extremes. Here are limitless expanses of space and very few people, sweeping treeless plains and steep forested mountains, sunny skies and torrential rains, rich farmland and uninhabitable badlands, scorching heat and bone-chilling cold, soothing silence and historic strife.
Writers rhapsodize about South Dakota’s vastness. They speak of “the smell of distance,” “the pull of horizon,” and the “great quietness broken only by the wind.” Even so, this giant land — the size of Ohio and Indiana combined — is so thinly populated that cattle outnumber people five to one.

In South Dakota the sun shines brightly and cheerfully almost every day; yet monstrous thunderstorms can appear out of nowhere, hammering the land unmercifully. In summer 100-degree temperatures are not uncommon, but in winter the thermometer plunges well below zero, ushering in ground-splitting frosts and arctic blizzards.

Palisades State Park, South Dakota

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Triangle Ranch Bed & Breakfast in South Dakota's Badlands