Exploring Badlands National Park, Interior, South Dakota

Are the Badlands really bad? No! They’re actually super cool and fascinating to see!

We visited this amazing park on a particularly windy day, but the breeze felt amazing and chased the heat of the day away. Driving through the park feels like you landed on a different planet. It’s hard to believe the colorfully lined hills are actually on Earth.

Our first stop was the Big Badlands Overlook to see the Badlands Wall. According to the National Park Service, the Wall is more than 60 miles long, and divides the upper from the lower prairie. We loved walking out to the viewing site to see this incredible landscape! The colors were so delicate and beautiful. My favorite were the pastel pink lines running through the rock.

We were very excited to explore the 244,000 acres of Badlands National Park. This was only the beginning of an amazing adventure!

Driving through the park is absolutely gorgeous, but when you can get on the trails and hike right next to these formations, it’s an incredible experience. The road took us to a stop where you can explore the Door, Window, Notch, and Castle Trails. We chose the Door Trail and were very happy with our decision. There were a few others on the trail, but the sound of the grasshoppers and crickets made us feel like we were in the middle of our own little planet.

We walked to the end of the boardwalk, where we entered the Badlands desert. There are short yellow posts that help you stay on the trail, but the area is open for people to explore since they have an Open Hike Policy. We had our water bottles filled, and were ready to go. Fair warning, this is not an easy hike. The terrain is uneven, it can be slippery, there are loose rocks & gravel, there are crevices to jump over, and it’s easy to get turned around. Oh, did I mention there may be rattlesnakes? It is so worth it!!! It’s hard to describe how incredible it was to be able to touch this unique type of rock. It was so cool! Luke found a spot where there was a bit of mud and the kids were amazed by the different texture it had. It also was hard to get off their hands, lol.

We walked on areas that took us through the spires on each side of us, looking at and touching the different colored rock layers. There were some holes and cracks in the rocks that provided shelter for smaller animals. When we got back to the end of the boardwalk, we even found a crevice filled with some kind of plant material.

There was more park to explore, so we drove through some more amazing formations on our way to the Visitor Center. Juliana and I are still on our quest to earn as many Junior Ranger Badges as we can, so we picked up our books and had a great time learning about the park in the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. The Junior Ranger Program is free for everyone and is also a lot of fun. You can actually earn 2 badges at Badlands National Park, the Badlands Junior Ranger badge and the Junior Paleontologist badge.

We went into the Fossil Exhibit where they were cleaning and extracting fossils from the soil they had found in the park. It was fascinating to watch Lexi prepare a Mesocyan (middle dog) skull. Mesocyans lived in North America 20 to 30 million years ago! Lexi was amazing and taught us all about different types of fossils found in the park. The fossils they have on display were very informative and gave us a look at the types of animals that lived there millions of years ago. There were even fossils of different kinds of tortoises!

After we earned our badges, we continued driving the Badlands Loop Road. It’s well paved and provides some incredible views. It also takes you to various viewing spots and places to stop for a hike, which led us to Fossil Exhibit Trail. The trail is a short 0.34 mile loop on a paved boardwalk that brings you to an area that many fossils were found. You can learn about some of the fossils that were discovered by reading the signs that are posted along the way.

We chose to leave the boardwalk for a bit and explore some of the most beautiful plants that we found at Badlands National Park. These prickly pear cactus were in bloom and I couldn’t resist taking a photo of them. I also found yellow sweet clover and a variety of fleabane.

Across from Fossil Exhibit Trail is Castle Trail. This trail also connects up with some of the other trails in the park. On Castle Trail, we were looking for fossils. We had a great time exploring this area, but the sky started looking ominous, so we decided to play it safe and head back to the car. Watching the lightning dance across the sky, we knew we made a good decision to leave the unprotected grounds we were hiking. We viewed the rest of the overlooks from the safety of the car.

If you are interested in visiting Badlands National Park, here are some helpful tips for you:

Always bring water with you. There are not water refill stations along the trails.
Wear proper shoes. You can easily wear flip flops and slides on the boardwalks, but if you plan on leaving the boardwalk please be aware how easily you can lose your footing.
Protect yourself from the sun. Sunglasses, hats, and sunscreen are very helpful since there is not a lot of shade in the park.
A good hiking stick would be a great idea to help you keep your balance on the uneven surfaces while hiking.
Watch out for rattlesnakes. Yep, they’re a real danger so please use caution.
If you have a child in the Fourth grade, you can get an annual National Park Pass for free. Click on this link for more information on National Park Passes: https://www.nationalparks.org/america-beautiful-national-parks-federal-recreational-lands-passes
Ask a Ranger questions. The Park Rangers are amazing and very knowledgeable. They are there to help you and make your visit enjoyable.
If you find a fossil, make sure you report it to the Park Rangers. There are many fossils discovered by visitors of the park.
Bring a sense of adventure! Badlands National Park is an amazing place to explore! Go out and enjoy it!

If you would like to see our full YouTube vlog, including videos of us hiking and the wonders of Badlands National Park, please either click the photo below or the link here: Exploring Badlands National Park

We hope you enjoyed traveling along with us!

If you’d like to keep exploring, you can find more family travel adventures here:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TravelingwiththeTrapps
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We’ve also shared videos on our YouTube channel to complement this post and bring the experience to life.

Thanks so much for traveling with us, and stay tuned for more adventures with Traveling with the Trapps.

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