Badlands National Park
Badlands National Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota offers sights that look to be out of science fiction books. These deposited, then eroded rock formations offer flowing colors and landscapes you likely have not seen before. Badlands National Park consists of eerie terrain featuring twisted spires and pinnacles. These rock formations transform as sunlight hits them at different times of the day. This park is home to bison herds, pronghorn and bighorn sheep, deer, fox and coyotes.
Badlands National Park is divided into three units: the North Unit, the Stronghold (also called South), and Palmer Creek Units, both of which are within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
The landscape is so unique, that it was added to the National Park system in 1939, well before some other more well known parks.
This park is usually visited alongside Wind Cave National Park, which is just a little over 50 miles away. However, some of the more popular areas nearby include Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Devil’s Tower and Custer State Park.
Why is it called Badlands?
The Lakota people that occupied much of what is now South Dakota, dubbed this region around the national park “mako sica,” roughly translated to “bad lands”. Long ago they noticed that its rocky terrain, lack of water and extreme temperatures made it extremely difficult to traverse, and thus the name “bad lands” was born. French-Canadian fur trappers also called it “les mauvais terres pour traverse,” or “bad lands to travel through.”
Today, badlands have a more geological meaning. Badlands form when soft sedimentary rock is extensively eroded in a dry climate. The national park’s typical scenery of sharp spires, gullies, and ridges is a premier example of badlands topography.
Places to Stay When Visiting Badlands
The north part of the park has the most designated trails, roads, and National Park Service amenities. It also includes the Badlands Loop Road (Highway 240), which is the main route people take through the park. The southern section has only a single road and no hiking trails.
Inside the park, the Cedar Pass Lodge is your only option to stay outside of a couple of campsites we list below.
Wall, SD is the closest town outside the park at 8 miles away and has a few more options to stay at. Other nearby towns include:
- Wall, SD (8 miles away)
- Quinn, SD (13 miles)
- Wasta, SD (21 miles)
- Rockyford, SD is the nearest town to the south entrance at 24 miles away.
The main entrance to the park is the Ben Reifel Visitor Center, which is located in the northern part of the park. If wanting to maximize your visit to Badlands NP, you should also stay near the north of the park in Interior.
There is also the White River Visitor Center in the southern Stronghold section, but it is not a commonly visited spot in the park.
VISIT Badlands National Park:
Park Details
Badlands National Park was established in .
| Address | |
|---|---|
| Phone | 605 433-5361 |
| Hours | Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week |
| Entrance Fee | $30 per vehicle, valid for 7 days |
When to Visit: Weather vs. Peak Visitation
We crunched 30 years of historical weather and/or park service data to find the best months to visit Badlands National Park. We looked for the optimal temperatures, the least amount of snow and rain, and stayed away from peak visitation months if we could help it. All this data then helped us paint a picture as to what the absolute best time to visit Badlands National Park is.
Our data shows the best months to visit Badlands National Park are September, October, April & August.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Park Visits | 14,899 | 11,350 | 28,182 | 42,749 | 109,764 | 256,041 | 288,004 | 236,282 | 138,477 | 66,941 | 23,432 | 8,105 |
| Precipitation | 14 | 18 | 42 | 61 | 70 | 54 | 34 | 27 | 23 | 34 | 18 | 14 |
| Avg Temp | 36 | 40 | 50 | 63 | 74 | 85 | 94 | 93 | 81 | 65 | 48 | 37 |
| Max Temp | 53 | 59 | 72 | 83 | 92 | 101 | 106 | 104 | 98 | 85 | 70 | 55 |
| Avg Temp | 18 | 21 | 28 | 36 | 47 | 57 | 64 | 63 | 52 | 39 | 27 | 19 |
| Min Temp | -3 | 1 | 7 | 20 | 31 | 43 | 53 | 51 | 35 | 22 | 8 | -1 |
Badlands National Park Road Trips
Many family vacations consist of stringing one or more national parks together during a week-long trip. Creating these types of trips is our specialty! Here are the road trips we've created where Badlands National Park is visited.
| Trip Name | Trip Miles | Trip Days |
|---|---|---|
| Devils Tower, Wind Cave, Mt. Rushmore to Badlands | 444 | 7 |
Other Nearby National Park Sites
From national monuments, to historic sites to seashores and more, here are the other parks closest to Badlands National Park.