North of the Pine Ridge, the trees give out and the Oglala National Grassland takes over: 94,520 acres of public mixed-grass prairie stretching to the South Dakota and Wyoming lines, interspersed with private and state land. It’s one of the largest intact grasslands in Nebraska, and it’s almost entirely free to explore — dispersed camping, hiking, hunting, and scenic driving with almost nothing in the way of what you’re looking at.
The two anchors: Toadstool Geologic Park, where centuries of erosion carved the siltstone into a moon-like badlands landscape of toadstool formations — one of Nebraska’s premier attractions and the most otherworldly half-mile hike in the state. And the Hudson-Meng Bison Bone Bed, where the remains of up to 600 bison lie in a 10,000-year-old kill-or-die-off site; visitors can view the ongoing excavation inside a climate-controlled enclosure in summer.
It’s the best pronghorn viewing in Nebraska, plus prairie dog towns along the northern border and more than 100 animal and 150 bird species. Born of the Dust Bowl — the federal government bought ruined farmland above market value in the Depression — the Oglala pairs with South Dakota’s Buffalo Gap Grassland next door for more than 1,000 square miles of open country. Call the Pine Ridge Ranger District for conditions; the grassland is a working grazing landscape, so check motor vehicle use maps before driving off established roads.