28 Best Sights in Badlands National Park, South Dakota

The simplest drive is on two-lane Badlands Loop Road (Route/Highway 240). The drive circles from Exit 110 off I–90 through the park and back to the interstate at Exit 131. Start from either end and make your way around to the various overlooks along the way. Pinnacles and Yellow Mounds overlooks are outstanding places to examine the sandy pink- and brown-toned ridges and spires distinctive to the badlands. The landscape flattens out slightly to the north, revealing spectacular views of mixed-grass prairies. The Cedar Pass area of the drive has some of the park's best trails.

Covering about a quarter of the park, this 100-square-mile area is part of the country's largest prairie wilderness. About two-thirds of the Sage Creek region is mixed-grass prairie, making it the ideal grazing grounds for bison, pronghorn, and other native animals. The Hay Butte Overlook (2 miles northwest on Sage Creek Rim Road) and the Badlands Wilderness Overlook (1 mile south of the Pinnacles entrance) are the best places to get an overview of the wilderness area. Feel free to park at an overlook and hike your own route into the untamed, unmarked prairie.

The trail, in place since 1964, has fossil replicas of early mammals displayed at wayside exhibits along its ¼-mile length, which is completely wheelchair accessible. Give yourself at least an hour to fully enjoy this popular hike. Easy.

Take a seven-hour narrated tour through the park and surrounding badlands. Tours can easily be customized and are available year-round.

Perched above a dense fossil bed, this overhang, adjacent to the Pinnacles overlook, is where prehistoric bison hunters drove herds of buffalo over the edge.

The Badlands Natural History Association Bookstore sells everything from books on geology and paleontology to postcards and posters.

Open year-round, the park's main information hub has brochures, maps, and information on ranger programs. Check out exhibits on geology and wildlife, and watch paleontologists at work in the Fossil Prep Lab. View the film, Land of Stone and Light, in the 95-seat theater, and shop in the Badlands Natural History Association Bookstore. The facility is named for a Sioux activist and the first Lakota to serve in Congress. Born on the nearby Rosebud Indian Reservation, Ben Reifel also served in the Army during World War II.

From this spot just south of the park's northeast entrance, the vast majority of the park's 1 million annual visitors get their first views of the White River Badlands.

See where Sioux Chief Big Foot and his band traveled en route to the battle at Wounded Knee, December 29, 1890.

Until 2008, paleontologists dug for fossils at this site near the Conata Picnic Area. It was named for a large fossil with a pig-like appearance (it turned out to be a small, hornless rhinoceros). Wayside signs and exhibits, including a mural, provide context on the area and its fossils.

There is only a handful of tables here and no water or restrooms, but the incredible view makes it a lovely spot to have lunch.

The park's longest hike runs 5 miles one way between the Fossil Exhibit trailhead on Badlands Loop Road and the parking area for the Door and Windows trails. Although the Castle Trail is fairly level, allow at least four hours to cover the entire 10 miles out and back. If you choose to follow the Medicine Root Loop, which detours off the Castle Trail, you'll add ½ mile to the trek. Experienced hikers will do this one more quickly. Moderate.

This ½-mile loop winds through a wooded prairie oasis in the middle of dry, rocky ridges and climbs 200 feet to a peak above White River Valley for an incomparable view. Look for chipmunks, squirrels, and red-winged blackbirds and eagles, hawks, and vultures at hilltop. Even casual hikers can complete this trail in far less than an hour, but if you want to observe the true diversity of wildlife present here, stay longer. Moderate.

A half-dozen or so covered picnic tables are scattered over this area, which rests against a badlands wall ½ mile south of Badlands Loop Road. There's no potable water, but there are bathroom facilities and you can enjoy your lunch in peaceful isolation at the threshold of the Badlands Wilderness Area. The Conata Basin area is to the east, and Sage Creek area is to the west.

The ¾-mile round-trip trail leads through a natural opening, or door, in a badlands rock wall. The eerie sandstone formations and passageways beckon, but it's recommended that you stay on the trail. The first 100 yards of the trail are on a boardwalk. Even a patient and observant hiker will take only about 30 minutes. Easy.

One of the park's more interesting hikes, this 1½-mile round-trip trail takes you over moderately difficult terrain and up a ladder. Winds at the notch can be fierce, but it's worth lingering for the view of the White River Valley and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. With breaks to enjoy the views, you'll probably spend more than an hour on this hike. Moderate–Difficult.

The Pine Ridge Reservation is home to more than 20,000 Oglala Lakota, members of a major Sioux division known as the Western or Teton Sioux, who live in nine tribal districts on 2 million acres of land. They are led by a Tribal Council president who is advised by an executive committee and a tribal council.

Changing exhibits highlight Native American culture and art; the permanent collection has 10,000 contemporary and historical pieces. The gift shop sells locally made Lakota crafts and fine or decorative works of art.

Once a homestead, the site today contains one of the country's largest (if not the largest) colonies of black-tailed prairie dogs.

This route, which connects with Castle Trail and Medicine Root Loop, is a steep, ¼-mile round-trip route up and down the side of "The Wall," an impressive rock formation. Plan on spending about an hour on this climb. Difficult.

This gravel route near the Pinnacles entrance follows the road less traveled and covers rougher terrain than Badlands Loop Road. Sage Creek Rim Road is completely negotiable by most vehicles, but should be avoided during a thunderstorm when the sudden rush of water may cause flooding. It might also close temporarily after snowstorms. A vast mixed-grass prairie covers the rest. Keep an eye out for free-roaming bison.

This 7-mile dirt road in the Stronghold Unit is ideal for mountain biking, but should be attempted only when dry, and riders must stay on the road. The terrain is level for the first 3 miles, then it climbs and levels out again. At the top you can take in great views of the area.

Within the Stronghold Unit, the Stronghold Table, a 3-mile-long plateau, is a historic site, sacred to the Lakota and inaccessible. It was here, just before the Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890, that some 600 Sioux gathered to perform one of the last known Ghost Dances, a ritual in which the Sioux wore white shirts that they believed would protect them from bullets.

Open in summer, this small center serves almost exclusively serious hikers and campers venturing into the Stronghold or Palmer unit. If that's you, stop here to view park videos and for maps and details about road and trail conditions. The center is on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. While you're here you can see fossils and Native American artifacts, and learn about Lakota culture.

Directly behind this visitor center are four covered tables, where you can picnic simply and stay protected from the wind. There are also restroom facilities.

Please note that Door, Notch, and Window Trails are all accessible at the same trailhead. Window Trail is a ¼-mile round-trip trail ends at a natural hole, or window, in a rock wall. You'll see more of the distinctive badlands pinnacles and spires. Easy.

Contrasting sharply with the whites, grays, and browns of the Badlands' pinnacles, the mounds viewed from here greet you with soft yet vivid yellows, reds, and purples.