A "Homecooking" sign, perched on the side of a gravel road in southwestern South Dakota, stops me ... buttes draw 900,000 people a year to Badlands National Park, the heart of the landscape.

The National Park Service recently issued a prospectus seeking bids for management of Cedar Pass Lodge, the only lodging facility at Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

The Little Missouri River winds all the way through North and South Dakota, Missouri, Montana, and Wyoming, but the most beautiful places to see it are certainly in the Badlands. The harsh canyons ...