Last summer {July 2020} we took an incredible road trip. This was taken during the pandemic, so things we may have experienced may be different a year from the writing of this post. The entire trip was impromptu and had only one goal in mind – to see Mount Rushmore. I did only a tiny bit of research each day to see what would be on our way during each leg of the trip. The closer we got to Mount Rushmore the more signs I read for Badlands National Park. I asked my sister/navigator to pull it up and see how far it was. The map said it was a good bit away, so we decided to skip it. A little while later an exit sign for the park shows up – feeling extra adventurous and as always skeptic of Google- and we realized the park was only a few miles away.
I am so thankful for the nagging feeling I had because this park was absolutely breathtaking. Growing up in Coastal
Georgia I had never seen anything like it. As you will see in our pictures, we were truly not prepared for a park such as the Badlands, but we plan on visiting again with a more structured agenda. And probably some snake guards.
For our trip we drove on Badlands Loop Road. This gave way to some amazing scenery. This is the road most visitors use for their trip into the park and a great way to showcase the North End of the park. There are several parking areas that you may pull off for hikes or exploration.
Overlooks on this loop include:
Big Badlands Overlook
White River Valley Overlook
Bigfoot Pass Overlook (includes a picnic area)
Panorama Point
Prairie Wind Overlook
Burns Basin Overlook
Homestead Overlook
Conata Basin Overlook
Yellow Mounds Overlook
Conata Picnic Area
Ancient Hunters Overlook
Pinnacles Overlook
Take a moment and visit the Ben Reifel Visitor Center for information and maps of the park. You can chat with a Ranger, take a look at the museum exhibits, grab the awesome Junior Ranger booklets, and grab your passport stamp. I truly regret not knowing more about what the National Parks had to offer before this trip, we missed out on several fun things. Thankfully we know SO much more after the last two summers that we have a nice plan of attack for future visits to these amazing spaces.
Maybe our next trip will involve our Pop-Up camper to stay at the park campground we spotted on our trek! For more information visit the Official Park Page.
