Badlands National Park & Wall

Colorful eroded landscapes on the South Dakota prairie. The Badlands Loop Road passes jagged peaks and gullies, and the gateway town of Wall is famous for Wall Drug.

Badlands National Park lies on the Great Plains of southwestern South Dakota. The north gateway town of Wall sits right beside Interstate 90, about 90 km west of Rapid City. Over tens of millions of years, deposits from oceans, rivers and volcanic ash were eroded by wind and rain into colorful spires and gullies. The area is also one of the world's richest sites for Oligocene mammal fossils. The surrounding mixed-grass prairie is home to bison, bighorn sheep, pronghorn and prairie dogs. Visits focus on the North Unit. The South Dakota Highway 240 Badlands Loop Road links the Big Badlands Overlook, White River Valley, Yellow Mounds, Pinnacles and other viewpoints, along with short trails such as the Door, Window and Notch trails. The unpaved Sage Creek Rim Road on the west side is a good place to see bison. The Ben Reifel Visitor Center has a fossil preparation lab. The town of Wall is famous for the Wall Drug pharmacy, and to the east is the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, a Cold War missile installation.

The best season is May to October. Summer days often exceed 35°C, so mornings and evenings are most comfortable and the light is best. Winters are cold but quieter. You must drive. Plan 1-2 days. You can stay in Wall or at the Cedar Pass Lodge inside the park. Watch the sunrise at the Big Badlands Overlook and the sunset at the Pinnacles Overlook. The park entry fee is about US$30 per vehicle, valid for 7 days. Cell signal is weak and supplies are limited inside the park, so bring plenty of water.

Top sights

• Badlands Loop Road (SD 240) – A scenic road of about 63 km through the northern unit of Badlands National Park, linking more than a dozen overlooks with spires, gullies…
• Notch Trail – The Badlands' most thrilling popular trail, climbing a log ladder and following a narrow ledge along the cliff edge to the Notch, with a pa…
• Wall Drug – A legendary roadside store that began by offering free ice water and now occupies an entire block, with western wear, restaurants, dinosaur…
• Minuteman Missile National Historic Site – The launch control center and missile silo sites of the Cold War Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles. Visitors can look through g…
• Door Trail – Walk through the door-shaped gap in the badlands cliff into a maze-like area of gray-white mounds; this short trail gives you an immersive…
• Window Trail – A barrier-free wooden boardwalk of only about 400 m; at its end, a window in the rock wall frames an eroded canyon.
• Fossil Exhibit Trail – A flat loop of wooden boardwalk displaying replicas of ancient mammal fossils and interpretive panels, for learning about the badlands' pre…
• Big Badlands Overlook – The first overlook after entering through the northeast entrance, and a classic spot for watching the sunrise over the badlands.
• White River Valley Overlook – A mid-loop overlook looking down on the wide valley carved by the White River and its layered mounds, with an extremely open view.
• Yellow Mounds Overlook – Rounded mounds in gold and purple-red stripes, the most colorful and recognizable landform in the badlands.
• Pinnacles Overlook – A high overlook near the Wall-side entrance, where layers of spires stretch to the horizon; the top choice for watching the sunset over the…
• Roberts Prairie Dog Town – A large colony of black-tailed prairie dogs beside Sage Creek Rim Road; hundreds of the little animals stand guard and look out from their…
• Sage Creek Rim Road – A gravel scenic road in the western part of the park, crossing mixed-grass prairie and badlands wilderness; the best route for spotting her…
• Ben Reifel Visitor Center – The park's main visitor center, with geology and fossil exhibits; you can watch paleontologists prepare fossils through glass, and rangers…
• Cliff Shelf Nature Trail – A boardwalk loop built along a collapsed rock shelf; a rare juniper oasis in the badlands where birds and wildlife are often seen.
• Castle Trail – The park's longest trail, passing beneath castle-like spires and across open prairie; suited to hikers who want to go deep into the badland…
• Wounded Knee Museum – A small narrative museum in the town of Wall, telling the story of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre and the history of the Lakota Sioux.

Where to eat

• Wall Drug Cafe – A Western art gallery restaurant with over 500 seats inside Wall Drug, known for its five-cent coffee and homemade donu…
• Badlands Saloon & Grille – A popular saloon-style restaurant across from Wall Drug, serving South Dakota's chislic skewered meat cubes and bison b…
• Cedar Pass Lodge Restaurant – The only sit-down restaurant inside Badlands National Park, famous for its Sioux Indian Taco topped with fry bread and…
• Red Rock Restaurant – A local steakhouse away from Main Street's tourist shops, with beef from a nearby meat processing plant and a smoked pr…