Last Updated on: 21st June 2025, 12:44 pm
Tucked away in a remote corner of northwest Nebraska are some fascinating badlands that will change the way you think about the Cornhusker State. Many of Toadstool Geologic Park’s highlights can be explored over the course of a two-hour loop hike that we’ll be covering in-depth below.
Just 30 min outside the town of Crawford, Toadstool Geologic Park can only be accessed via a dirt road, though most cars should be able to handle it. Following this guide to the park, be sure to learn about where to stay in the area down below.
About This Hike
THE BASICS: This hike through some of Nebraska’s most impressive scenery pieces together three different trails found at Toadstool Geologic Park.
But first of all, you’ll have to drive down around 15 miles of gravel road to reach it, though it’s pretty well-maintained.
Considering how the Toadstool-High Plains-Bison Loop hike is the only long hike at the park featured on AllTrails, this is the one that a majority of visitors will follow, and what we’ll be covering here.
All in all, the hike is about 5.2 miles (8.37 km) long and should take most people about two hours to complete.
It’s mostly an easy hike as long as you stick to the trail, but be prepared for scorching temperatures if you’re visiting in summer.
WHAT TO BRING: Be sure to come in sturdy shoes, while long hiking pants are also recommended. As we’ll cover below, a large portion of the hike has you walking through prairie grass. But shorts should be fine as long as you stay on trail.
Given the heat in the warmer months, sunscreen, a hat and water are all must.
Though I didn’t encounter many, lots of visitors also complain of mosquitos, so you may want to carry insect repellant.
Trekking poles shouldn’t be necessary for this hike.
RECOMMENDED APPS: Don’t expect any reception at Toadstool Geologic Park. You can find the full hike outlined on AllTrails, though you’ll need to pay for a subscription and download the offline version in advance.
Otherwise, the free offline map app Organic Maps should come in handy as well.
The Toadstool-High Plains-Bison Loop Hike
At the time of writing, entrance to the Toadstool Geologic Park costs $3 per vehicle. And if you already have an American The Beautiful annual parks pass, the cost is just $1.50 (if you’re camping, you’ll have to pay $15).
Note that there’s no reception out here while the park is also unstaffed. So if you’d prefer not to pay in cash, you can do so online in advance here.
As mentioned above, this guide will be focusing on the Toadstool-High Plains-Bison loop trail that’s featured on AllTrails. But if you don’t have much time or just aren’t much of a hiker, you can do the shorter one-mile ‘Toadstool Geological Park Trail.’
The shorter loop will take you to many of the geological highlights, while a handy paper pamphlet available at the parking area covers nine different highlights along the loop.
In my case, I did the longer loop hike counterclockwise. As I’d later learn, doing so means saving the best for last. But that’s not to say that the other portions aren’t interesting.
If you’re also hiking counterclockwise, you’ll soon encounter fascinating balancing rocks comprised of multiple geological layers. What’s more, is that some of them even contain evidence of animal tracks!
The trail isn’t all that distinct, but it’s not too hard to find your way around by following the poles placed throughout the area. Of course, you should also be sure to have an offline app like AllTrails or Organic Maps.
A large majority of Nebraska is flat with little to catch your eye as you make your way across it. If you’ve already driven across most of the state during your road trip, these badlands and their unique formations will likely come as a shock.
In contrast to the rest of the state, Toadstool Geologic Park resembles scenery you’ll find in either the Southwest or further north at Badlands and Theodore Roosevelt National Parks. But how did these badlands form?
Roughly 90 million years ago, this region was home to an inland sea. But about 25 million years later, the sea was drained due to the uplift of the Black Hills and Rocky Mountains.
And eventually, this region became a hot and humid jungle. While one would never suspect it by coming here today, this area was once teeming with life.
But the creatures that roamed here about 30 million years ago were mostly species that have long since vanished from the earth. Examples include the Mesohippus, an early horse, the Subhyracodon, an ancient and hornless version of a rhinoceros, and a Stylemys, a type of giant tortoise.
Interestingly, this land was once a river valley that closely resembled what we now see at an African savannah. The water also carried volcanic debris that ultimately helped form the current badlands once the climate became drier.
Eventually, I passed through a gate, after which the trail took me uphill. And then next thing I knew, the badlands had disappeared and I was walking through the prairie.
Apparently, it’s around here that the Toadstool Trail transitions to the High Plains trail. And frankly speaking, much of the High Plains section of this hike is rather boring.
While I’m not familiar enough with the park to know whether bypassing the prairie section would be possible, as mentioned above, the hike definitely gets more interesting in the end.
It was nearly 100 degrees F on the day of my hike, and as obvious from these photos, the trail contains zero shade. Throughout much of the prairie section, the sun was beating down on the back of my neck, and I was sure glad I had sunscreen with me.
That’s not to say that the long prairie section is entirely boring, as you will occasionally get to enjoy views of the distant badlands to both the right and left. But it’s still not quite as cool as getting to walk through them.
I gradually grew impatient with the hot sun and the seemingly never-ending walk across the prairie, and I decided to find a shortcut. I left the trail and walked through the wild grass. That’s something I wouldn’t have considered without long pants, as one may encounter rattlesnakes.
With my eyes glued to the AllTrails route, I saw that I was pretty close to connecting with the eastern and final part of the loop with more badlands. But this turned out to be a mistake.
While I did indeed find the trail, I was looking down on it from the edge of a cliff! And there was no safe way to descend. As such, I had no choice but to backtrack through the tall grass again to return to the prairie trail.
Please learn from my mistake and don’t get off trail during this hike, as you’ll end up wasting both time and energy.
Back on the proper trail, I followed it to eventually find a gradual downhill descent back into the badlands. From here on, the hike would get much more interesting again.
It was in this last section (or first, for those doing the hike clockwise) that I finally spotted the park’s eponymous toadstool formations. They do indeed resemble mushrooms, and reminded me a lot of the Toadstool Hoodoos of southern Utah.
The toadstool formations consist of sandstone atop clay pillars. And as the clay erodes more quickly and easily than the sandstone caps, what results are formations that look like something out of a Super Mario level.
Eventually, of course, the pillars will collapse and bring the whole thing down, though new toadstools will also form in the future.
Walking through this section of the park, I couldn’t help but stop every few seconds to snap photos of all the interesting formations around me. Though I did encounter a few other hikers, I largely had the trail to myself.
Eventually, the trail seemed to split into two, but I took the righthand path leading upward. It took me along a ridge, from which I could enjoy great views of the valley below and various badland formations in the distance.
As mentioned above, if you’re short on time, you can simply make your way straight to this area from the main parking lot, and I saw several other visitors doing just that.
Finally, after roughly two hours of hiking, the parking lot finally came into view. Despite the subpar middle section, this was an overall satisfying hike, and I left feeling that Toadstool Geologic Park is well worth the effort to visit.
If you’ve spent the previous night in Crawford (more below) and will be heading further north to South Dakota, you should still have plenty of time to do at least one hike or scenic drive in the Custer area on the same day.
And if you’re traveling north to south, be sure to check out Scotts Bluff and various other formations throughout Nebraska’s western panhandle.
Additional Info
Staying somewhere in western Nebraska is a great way to break up your road trip journey between Rocky Mountain National Park / Cheyenne, Wyoming and Custer, South Dakota. But where, exactly?
The area lacks any major cities, and there are very few hotel options overall. I ended up staying in an Airbnb in the charming town of Crawford, which is conveniently located near Toadstool Geologic Park.
If you’d prefer a traditional hotel, consider making a detour to Chadron, where they have a Holiday Inn Express and Super 8.
North of Crawford, meanwhile, is the Our Heritage Guest Ranch.