Badlands National Park is one of the most spectacular places we have ever had the joy to visit. This rugged National Park is known for its beautiful landscapes, amazing sunrises and sunsets, exhilarating hikes, and abundant wildlife. The Badlands took our breath away and should definitely be on any National Park bucket list. We loved our time here and are planning to come back again and again.

Recently we had a conversation with someone about visiting National Parks. The conversation revolved around how much time people spend in the parks. Do you need a week to visit a particular park? How much time do you need to really experience a park? Right now in life we are trying to experience as many parks as possible. Though we would love to spend weeks and weeks in some parks, we just can’t do that. We have jobs, bills, and limited vacation time. One day we will have the time. But until then, we will take what we can get.

Why did we write that? Because this post might not be for everyone. This is not for the person who has a week to spend in the Badlands. This is for someone who wants a really great overview on how to spend a day. A lot of times when people go to this part of the country, they are hitting up a wide range of parks and activities, so a day is all they have. If that is you, this post should be pretty helpful.

There are two units to the Badlands, the North and South. The North is where most people end up. It has the majority of the trails, scenic drives, and things to do. The South Unit is located in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. This is where you can get a ton of information on the Lakota heritage of those who have lived here for centuries.

Around Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park is located about an hour east of Rapid City, South Dakota. Many people will use this town as their launching off point for a trip in this area of the country. There is good reason for that. Custer State Park, Jewel Cave, Wind Cave, Crazy Horse Monument, The Black Hills, and Mt. Rushmore are all great places to visit from Rapid City. Rapid City has an awesome downtown area with plenty of awesome restaurants and shopping. We enjoyed our time visiting this trendy and fun city. If you have kids, make sure you take them up to Dinosaur Park. Great views of the city below and you get to see a bunch of roadside attraction style dinosaurs.

When we were on our road trip, we stayed closer to the park in Wasta – about a 20 minute drive. Wasta is a “town” of 130 people. There are a couple of airbnbs in the area, but not a ton. We liked our time here, felt safe and friendly.

Wall

Wall is the better known town in the area and about 10 minutes closer than Wasta to the Badlands. This is the closest town to the Badlands with hotels, dining, and of course, Wall Drug. Wall Drug is the world’s greatest roadside attraction. It is more than a store or restaurant, it is an experience. This place takes up a couple of blocks and has something for everyone. Tons of souvenirs, $.05 coffee, statues of famous Wild West characters, jackalopes you can get on, and plenty of gag gifts. If you are in to roadside attractions and tourist traps, this is for you. If not, stop by any way so you can say you have experienced it. It is worth at least 20-30 minutes.

Wall is home to the only grocery store we could find in the immediate area of the Badlands. There might be others, but we couldn’t find them. It is pretty much a large convenience store but it has all of the staples that you will need. This is where we stocked up on food for dinner and lunch the next day.

Minute Man Missile National Historic Site

There is another National Park unit around the Badlands, Minute Man Missile National Historic Site tells the story of the roughly 1,000 missile silos hidden in plain sight through the Great Plains region of the U.S. These missiles were active for 30 years during the Cold War. There are still a couple of hundred that are active today.

They have a really great visitor center off of exit 131 on I-90 (same exit as one of the main entrances to the Badlands). It does a great job telling the story of the Cold War and has some really fantastic pieces of history. Our kid enjoyed doing the Junior Ranger book while we were there.

You can tour a couple of their facilities to see the actual missiles. These require advanced reservations and they tend to fill up fast. Check the park site for details on that. There is a $12 fee to do the tours.

Entering The Badlands

As with most National Parks out west, overcrowding has become a huge issue. When it comes to this park in particular, we can’t stress enough how important it is for you to get there early to beat the crowds. This park is open 24 hours a day, plenty of amazing spots for star gazing, but most people start to show up around 8:30-9 am. We would recommend getting to the park no later than 8 am if you only have one day and want to experience everything. This will allow you to beat the crowds at the heaviest trafficked areas and get ahead of everyone as you head through the park.

Entrances

There are three entrances to the park – the Northeast Entrance, the Interior Entrance, and the Pinnacles Entrance. The Northeast Entrance is off of I-90 at exit 131. This is the entrance people will use if they are coming from the east or from Minute Man Missile. The Interior Entrance comes in from the south off of Highway 44, not too many people will come from this way, but it is an option. The Pinnacles Entrance is the entrance closest to Wall. A lot of people use this one when staying in the towns of Wall, Wasta, and Rapid City. We recommend using the Northeast entrance and taking the road all the way through the park. This way, there is no doubling back and you get to the hiking portions earlier in the day.

When we drove through, we went all the way to the Sage Creek Rim Road out to Highway 590. There is a sign that tells you that you are entering the National Park, but there is not an entrance gate. We think you can enter through here, but you will need to pay at one of the gates. Don’t want to get pulled over without a pass for the day (and you shouldn’t try and cheat the parks haha).

Entrance Fees

It costs $30 per vehicle for a week long pass. This covers everyone in your car. If you are in this area you might be headed to Devil’s Tower, Yellowstone, or the Tetons. If that is you, go ahead and get the American the Beautiful National Parks Pass. It is $80 for the year and gets you into places all over the country. If you have a 4th grader, you can get one for free.

Badlands National Park Visitor Centers

There are two visitor centers on the National Park property. The Ben Reifel visitor center is the main park headquarters and is located in the North Unit. The White River visitor center is located in the South Unit.

Ben Reifel

This visitor center is the main one for the park. There is a really great museum here where you can learn all about the unique geological formations throughout the park. They always have plenty of Rangers here and they are a wealth of information. These Rangers have the most up to date information and can give you info you won’t read in the pamphlet. It is always a great idea to talk to them about current conditions and events. They are the ones with the best pro tips. While you are here, don’t forget to grab your Junior Ranger book and your National Park passport stamp.

This park has plenty of picnic tables with some shade for you to eat your lunch (we highly recommend packing a lunch for this park, it is pretty much a must). There are also bathrooms, water fountains, and other hook ups in this area. After we ate lunch here, we hiked to the top of one of the nearby rock formations. There really is adventure all around you in this park.

White River

White River is where you go to learn all about the Lakota people and the special place the Badlands has played in their lives. There are many Lakota people who work in the park and share their vast knowledge with the visitors. This side is definitely less visited, but worth it if you have the time.

Wildlife In The Badlands National Park

The Badlands might not be known for its wildlife, but if you now where to look you can see a ton. The best place to check out the animals is along the Sage Creek Rim Road. This road will take you anywhere from 1-2 hours. There are a bunch of overlooks as well where you have views of the Badlands that others might miss. The Sage Creek Road takes you by a couple of awesome prairie dog towns – definitely stop at Robert’s Town. It is super cool and so many prairie dogs sticking their heads up!

Along this road is a huge herd of bison. If you get it at the right time you can get stuck right in the middle of all of them. It is really cool to be stuck in a bison traffic jam. There are also plenty of bighorn sheep, deer, and even a coyote or two.

Hiking The Badlands National Park

Our favorite thing we did in the Badlands was to get out and hike. This park is pretty crowded during peak season, so in order to get away from the crowds you have to get out on the trails. If you are not able to hike, the Badlands still has a ton to offer, beautiful scenery and boardwalks, so don’t let that keep you from visiting.

The Badlands has an “open hiking policy”. What that means is you can pretty much hike wherever you want to in the park. You can go on or off trail. This made it super fun for us, felt like we were forging our own path. Pro tip, it is easier to hike up one of the rock formations than down one. You might get stuck at the top with a very strenuous and difficult path down. Obviously, don’t do anything stupid or put yourself or your group in danger by going places that simply aren’t safe. Just have fun exploring.

Here are the trails that we did. We hiked all of them in a day. There are a lot of trails here, but they only add up to about 5 miles in total. We did do part of the Castle Trail as well. The Castle Trail is 10 miles, we did a section near Saddle Pass while we were up there. This section was an awesome walk through the high plains of South Dakota

Door Trail

The Door Trail was the first trail that we hiked when we got to the Badlands. It is in the same parking lot as the Window, Notch, and Castle trails. This trail is only about three-fourths of a mile of maintained trail. It starts with a really nice boardwalk through the rock formations. If you are not an avid hiker, this is a great place for you to check out. After the maintained trail ends, you can go on as long as you would like to. We loved being able to hike wherever we wanted to and adventuring at our own pace. Our son loved being able to just run around, jumping in and out of holes and climbing the different rocks. This area is like you are exploring another planet. It is amazing. It was super cool hiking as far out as we wanted to.

A word of caution. There are signs all over warning about snakes. We never saw any, but they are there. Also, this area can be dangerous. We saw a kid try and do a little too much more than he could handle and he hit his head pretty hard on the rocks. Have fun, run around, but be aware of your surroundings.

Window Trail

The Window Trail takes off from the very same parking lot as the Door and Notch Trails. This is by far the shortest of the three, and really might not even be considered a trail. It is still one that you should stroll down and enjoy the view out the “window” overlooking the canyon. This trail is just .25 miles, you can see the end from the parking lot, but like we said, it is a good view and spot for pictures.

Notch Trail

The Notch Trail was our favorite hike in all of the Badlands National Park and might be our favorite hike we have ever done. This hike is truly spectacular and offers so much. It would be great if you stayed on the trail alone, but the fact that you have open hiking here makes this area a place you can stay and play all afternoon.

This hike takes off from the Door and Window parking area and begins in a little canyon with awesome rock formations on both sides. Eventually, you make it to the log ladder that takes you up along the side of the canyon along a sometimes narrow ledge. After the ledge, you end up in another canyon, just on another level up and this is where you can really get out and explore.

A lot of people stop at the log ladder, they get to the top, get their pics for Instagram, and head back to the parking lot (take plenty of pics, but keep going!). There was nobody after the ledge. It was weird, people just disappeared. This was a really great place for us to get away from the crowds for a little bit. We actually had the whole walk from the ledge to the notch overlooking the White River Valley to ourselves. It is an epic view, one you don’t want to miss.

The highlight though is the log ladder. It looks really steep, but you can easily do it. This makes the trail exceptionally unique. There are a lot of drop-offs on this trail. Nothing super crazy, but if you are not careful you will get in trouble real fast.

Cliff Shelf

Cliff Shelf is probably the most different of all of the other trails at the Badlands. This is a half-mile loop trail that takes you through an actual juniper forest with shade. Yes, you can have a little bit of shade on this trail. You won’t find that anywhere else in the park! There are some stairs here as well as a nice boardwalk. We have heard that bighorn sheep like to hang out around here.

Saddle Pass

Saddle Pass is off of the Badlands Loop Road. It is a super steep hike up the side of the Badlands Wall. The trail is only a quarter of a mile, but it takes a while because you are scrambling. It is tough, but if you take your time it can be done. At the top of the wall you have a magnificent view of the White River Valley. It is pretty intense but worth it. At the top of the wall, you can continue on the Castle and Medicine Root Loop Trails and climb higher in elevation. This was a short trail, but the most difficult hiking we did the whole time we were there.

Fossil Exhibit Trail

This is a super short trail that takes you on a boardwalk with fossil replicas of animals that once roamed the park. This is a great place to get out and stretch your legs and let your kids imagination run wild.

What To Bring To Badlands National Park

As with most National Parks you need to be prepared for your trip. This is a post about one day in the park, so we tried to limit our what to bring list to that, no overnight stuff on this list. This does not include your typical first aid kit, sunscreen, and other basic needs.

• Hiking shoes -We really like the Merrell Moab 2’s (Megan wore her Tevas to the Badlands and honestly was happy with the decision – it was really hot and my feet were super dusty at the end of the day but it worked for me).
• Long hiking pants – There are a ton of snakes and no shade in this park, so it is good to keep your legs covered. However, we did not take this advice and wore shorts and were fine. These are Megan’s favorite “National Park” shorts.
• Water bottle – we love and use Tal water bottles. PS – if you go in the summer fill that water bottle with ice if you can. It will be so nice to use on your neck when the sun is getting to you.
• Binoculars– these are great for hiking with
• Cooler – for your picnic…you really need to plan for one!
• Big Hat – His and Hers
• Plenty of Food – snacks, picnic lunch, more snacks!
• Megan’s favorite small backpack

Takeaways

The Badlands National Park is one of our favorite places in the world to visit. Silas would say it is his all time favorite National Park! You could definitely spend multiple days exploring at this amazing place but it is also very doable to do in a day – (and still feel like you took in all there was to do)! Our best takeaway would be to get out and enjoy the trails. We couldn’t believe how few people were not actually out hiking. A ton of people were just cruising through and pulling over for just the view points. You get to see so much more when you get out to explore together. This park offers awesome trails in all sorts of hiking levels. Don’t let the ladder scare you! The Badlands can be very hot in the summer so don’t forget to bring plenty of water and wear those big hats! If you have the chance we would definitely say to put Badlands on your must do National Park list!

Have you been to Badlands National Park? What would be your must dos or takeaways? Share with us in the comments!

PS! If you love visiting National Parks and are looking for more inspiration check out our post about visiting the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and Smoky Mountains National Park!

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