For far too many travelers, Badlands National Park is little more than a side trip on the way to Yellowstone.

A visit often consists of a drive along the park’s main access road with a quick stop at the visitor center. Many travelers are likely to spend more time at nearby Wall Drug where coffee is still five cents, unless you are a military veteran, in which case it is free. Veterans also get a free donut. While you won’t get a free donut at Badlands National Park, a visit here is worth your time and shouldn’t be rushed.

Badlands is a unique and interesting national park that deserves more than a quick detour off Interstate 90. The paved loop road has a dozen vehicle pullouts at scenic overlooks. Exhibits in the Ben Reifel Visitor Center are worth at least an hour or two. Several hiking trails are nearby. The park’s remote location makes it one of the best locations in the country to admire a sparkling night sky.

In other words, there is a lot to see and experience in Badlands National Park.

Return to the Badlands

We recently returned to Badlands National Park for the first time in five years. In the interim, concessionaire Forever Resorts, the private firm that operates the park’s commercial facilities, replaced the historic guest cabins at Cedar Pass Lodge. We had previously stayed in the old cabins on four or five occasions during travels through southwestern South Dakota.

These earlier stops occurred during the dog days of late July or early August when afternoon temperatures in the Badlands generally seemed to be in the high 90s or low 100s and you could fry eggs on the hood of your vehicle.

This year, the experience was quite different during an April visit shortly after the lodge had opened for the season. The park in late April was largely vacant with no more than a half dozen cabins rented at Cedar Pass Lodge. During the first day of our visit a light snow covered portions the eroded landscape making for especially beautiful vistas.

During a morning drive along Badlands Loop Road, we came across a band of nearly a dozen bighorn sheep lounging beside the road.

The Land

During tens of millions of years today’s Great Plains – of which the Badlands is part — evolved from being covered by a vast shallow sea to becoming a tropical land, and later an open woodland. During these periods, multiple layers of sand, silt, volcanic ash, and clay were deposited and became bound together into sedimentary rocks.

The land under the sea was subject to an uplifting that caused the water to drain and, combined with cooler temperatures, produced a subtropical forest that eventually transitioned to a grassland. The grasslands, in turn, eroded to produce today’s rugged, but beautiful landscape of weathered buttes and deep water runoffs.

The Badlands of western South Dakota extend north into eastern Montana and western North Dakota.

The sea and tropical climate that once characterized today’s Badlands supported a wide variety of life that included fish, clams, crabs, giant lizards, flying reptiles, and sea turtles.

Many of these creatures became fossilized after dying and sinking to the bottom of the sea. A 33-million-year-old saber-tooth tiger fossil was discovered in 2010 in the park. Badlands National Park has been an abundant source of fossils, some of which are displayed in the visitor center.

The Park

Badlands National Park comprises 224,000 acres of prairie grassland interspersed with colorful eroded landscape that proved a major headache for pioneers, but serves as a source of scenic wonder for today’s travelers.

Immigration to the region was spurred with the arrival of the railroad when western South Dakota’s population increased from 44,000 to 57,500 between 1900 and 1905. The population more than doubled to 138,000 five years later. Liberalization of the Homestead Act in 1912 and 1915 resulted in additional gains in population.

For pioneers, the Badlands was a major barrier to travel with harsh weather, and poor soil conditions. The land that proved unforgiving to desperate souls who tried farming was more suited to raising livestock. Today’s visitors can enjoy a scenic drive through some of the park’s rugged terrain on a paved road that loops south from Interstate 90.

The entire loop drive from one interstate exit to the next is about 40 miles.

The visitor center is on the park’s east side, about eight miles south of Exit 131 on I-90. Here visitors can enjoy an excellent film, browse an interesting and interactive exhibit area, and pick up some reading material in the bookstore.

This is also the location to learn about special park programs including upcoming ranger-guided hikes and evening presentations. We particularly enjoyed an evening night sky program presented in the park’s amphitheater that was simply outstanding.

Staying Overnight

in the Park

Lodging in the park is available in the form of modern cabins located within walking distance of the visitor center.

During previous trips, we stayed in historic cabins that were built in 1928, prior to when Badlands was authorized as a national monument, let alone a national park. The cabins were undersized and crowded with interiors mostly consumed by bedding. The bathrooms had space for one person at a time so long as they held their arms at their sides. The old cabins had heat and air accompanied by noise similar to that of a jet engine. The cabins were a bargain. Our receipt from July 20, 2005 lists the nightly cost at $58.50 with a tax of $2.93.

The historic cabins at Cedar Grove have recently been replaced with 23 new energy-efficient cabins that are much larger and considerably more elaborate than their predecessors. The new cabins are substantially more expensive at $176 per night, but this is no more than travelers are likely to pay for lesser facilities in other national parks.

Each cabin has heat, air conditioning, hair dryer, ceiling fan, coffeemaker, microwave, television, and a small refrigerator.

The upside to spending a night in the park is the peacefulness and striking scenery. Badlands is a relatively large park with little of the crowds, congestion, and noise that can be an issue in some of the country’s destination parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite.

Spending an evening sitting on the cabin’s deck, or on lawn chairs in the grassy area behind the cabins watching the birds, deer, and rabbits is a pleasure, especially after finishing off an Indian taco at the nearby restaurant.

We have discovered during many years of travel that staying in a park, rather at a motel in a neighboring community, produces a better sense of what the park has to offer. Plus, you are likely to be able to take in a night-sky program. You won’t be disappointed.

 

David and Kay Scott are the authors of nationally published books on national parks and lodges. They live in Valdosta.