Badlands

ILNP Rating

Scenery

Uniqueness

Wildlife

Diversity

ILNP Park Review

In a Word “Rugged”

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” -Isaiah 43:19

Our Visit. My family visited Badlands in July as part of a week-long adventure in the Black Hills of South Dakota

Our Weather. 90 degrees and partly cloudy.

About the Park. Badlands National Park, South Dakota, was established in 1978 after being declared a National Monument in 1929. It protects one of the largest remaining undisturbed prairies in the United States as well as the rugged and colorful badlands of South Dakota. The southern unit is jointly managed by the Oglala Lakota tribe and preserves sites of the “ghost dances” performed in the late 1800s.

View looking east from the end of the Window Trail

Favorite Spot. Window Trail Area

Minimum Time Required. If you’re just driving through on I-90, you’ll need about 40 minutes to peek into the Badlands–in this time, you can drive into the east side of the park and hike either the Door Trail or Window Trail (same parking lot) for a great overview of the badlands on the east side of the park (Northeast Entrance). This area is a great place to let your kids explore the myriad of unmarked trails within ear shot of the parking lot that let you climb to a number of crevices and vistas in the top of the Badlands Wall.

From here, you can drive through the North Unit of the park on Badlands Loop Road, stopping at the Ben Reifel Visitors Center for one of the best views of the Badlands from the floor and your passport stamp. From there, you can drive the paved road through the park in about 90 minutes if you don’t stop too long at the overlooks. The road descends and climbs a couple of times giving you a good appreciation of the Badlands Wall from many angles. If you can only stop at one, make it Panorama Point. before exiting at Pinnacles Entrance near Wall, SD. If you’re driving from west to east on I-90, reverse this to enter from the west first and drive east through the park.

Saddle Pass Trail climbs steeply from the floor of the Badlands quickly offering views of the surrounding area

A Longer Visit. With a few hours, you can take your time exploring the area along Badlands Loop Road including a few shorter hikes. Take your time at the easy Door Trail and Window Trail, and if you’re up for some elevation, try the Saddle Pass Trail which climbs steeply from the floor and meets with some longer trails at the top of the wall. A word of caution–this trail is VERY steep, and it’s on dirt and not rock, so it’s pretty slippery. I recommend hiking poles and good shoes.

If you really like hiking in the sun away from crowds, you can get a more rare view of the Badlands by taking the Castle Trail across the top of the wall. Don’t worry about skipping the Fossil Exhibit Trail–it’s a nice, short, boardwalk trail, but it’s crowded, and there are no actual fossils to see (just signs for “exhibits”), and the views aren’t as great as other areas of the park. If you want to get away from the crowds, try a drive on the Sage Creek Rim Road on the west side of the North Unit. It’s a gravel road that takes you to several more overlooks off the beaten path.

Scattered clouds are great for casting light and shadow across the badlands giving you a better feel for their ruggedness and scale

There is more of the park to the south in the Stronghold Unit and Palmer Creek Unit, but these areas are jointly managed by the NPS and Oglala Lakota tribe. There aren’t many roads or trails in these areas, and as of my visit, they were closed to visitors. You can see the south unit at a distance if you drive through on SD 44 (a beautiful way to enter the park if you’ve got time).

Suggestions. If you can, visit early in the morning or in the evening if visiting in summer; not only will it be cooler, but you’ll experience fewer crowds and more dramatic lighting on the badlands. Spring and fall would be a better time to visit temperature-wise. If you can manage, try to pick a day with scattered clouds as the shadows they cast give you a much better perspective of the ruggedness and vastness of the formations, and it makes for better pictures.

This view from near Big Foot Pass shows how the wall drops out from under the prairie

Take plenty of water as there are limited facilities in the park. Also, if you’re driving through in the summer and are in a hurry, expect construction that will stop you at some point. When we visited, a section was down to one lane and caused about a 7-minute delay.

If you want to see bison, they’re in Badlands, but we didn’t see any (I think they’re mainly in the southern units). A better place for viewing wildlife is Custer State Park or Wind Cave National Park in the Black Hills to the west of Badlands. The only big wildlife we saw were bighorn sheep in a couple of spots.

The Pinnacles Entrance is just a few miles from the town of Wall, SD, home to world-famous Wall Drug. It’s a tourist trap for sure, but it was a unique experience, and we’re glad we stopped (they also have lots of Badlands NP gear for sale).

Nearby Towns Wall, Rapid City (SD)

Other Nearby Attractions Minuteman Missile NHS, Wall Drug (because who doesn’t need a cup of free ice water), Mount Rushmore NM, Custer State Park, Wind Cave NP