Nestled in the heart of America s great plains are contrasting tastes of a sacred land that beckons the visitor to enter the nation's mysterious and glorious West. A  land of soaring pinnacles, deep canyons, hidden caves, national monuments and countless wildlife sanctuaries. It is also the place of the inglorious death of famed  gunslinger, Wild Bill Hickok and the most sacred spot for the Lakota Sioux.These contrasting tastes of the West, one soaring, rich in forests and water and the other barren and deeply eroded, are brought together by a shared geology and  history. They are the Gateway to the Great American West. They are the Black Hills and the Badlands.