Badlands National Park | Overlooks and Scenic Stops

Badlands National Park was our goal for day two of our Epic Yellowstone Family Road Trip. The plan was to leave early and get to the Badlands by noon or early afternoon so we had plenty of time to explore. The park closes around five, so it was important for us to have plenty of time and not rush.

Check out our list of suggested pull offs and outlooks to experience in the Badlands National Park during a 4 hour afternoon experience. #nationalpark #blackhills #badlands #southdakotavacation #rapidcity

I’m assuming if you’ve landed here you already know a little about the Badlands and are planning a trip. If you do not know much about hte Badlands and Black Hills region, let me encourage you do a little exploring with some of these links. The area is named for the harsh conditions of early explorers coming through the Black Hills territory. While the terrain is beautiful, first sight of the Black Hills is a little decieving becasue the rock formations of the Badlands were a tough passage with horse and buggy moving and trasporting a family. Many ofhte pull offs you will encounter are formed from the old “passes” used by these explorers and settlers of the area.

Badlands National Park can be explored in a couple of different ways. This is a great add on for families with toddlers and preschoolers to most road trips in the area because you can do a driving loop and see most everything. But, for families who like to hike and explore more, this could be a National Park you explore for multiple days. I will give you a heads up, IT IS HOT. Its the weirdest thing, this was the hottest place on our trip. Its practically a desert and if you are going to be doing any type of hiking or walking, make sure you have water ready and stay hydrated. The location is dry air combined with high heat and it could get scary quick.

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We used a Tula toddler carrier on our trip and I would definitely recommend this or another type of backpack carrier for any kids. There are lots of edges and rocks and any runaway situation could get scary quick. the same is true for anyone you are traveling with who has issues with steady and walking. Just hold on tight to each other and don’t take any chances.

Loop Tour Road is the best way to see the park. Get a map at the entrance and pull off as often as you like. The Badlands can also be a fun place to experience and view wildlife. Watch as you drive, even while you are looking at rocks. Some bighorn sheep or pronghorn may come right up the road next to your car. Some of the stops we explored starting at the Northeast entrance include:

Big Badlands Overlook – so fun to take in that first big look
Door, Window, and Knotch Trail – this was different than I expected. I thought they were actual trails at the Visitor Center, but they were a pull off and area to explore all on their own. There were a lot of people around and again, it was super hot. So we picked a couple that were easy to access and moved along. You could easily spend a couple of hours at this stop. There are restrooms.
Visitor Center – there was a line to enter, so we just stopped at the Ranger Station outside the center and got our pass stamped.
White River Valley lookout – my favorite stop
Panorama Point
Yellow Mounds lookout
Pinnacles Overlook
Take the dirt road – Sage Creek Rim Road
Badlands Wilderness Overlook – a really cool view of this incredible landscape
Prairie Dog Town – make sure to include this on your trip. It was one of the coolest things we saw and there really are prairie dogs everywhere. I had read in a post before I left to take the dirt road drive out. I didn’t know all the directions, but when we came to that point, my husband turned and I said no, we want to go down the dirt road. And, I’m so glad we did. It was really cool.
You can keep going, but we turned off on 502 and went north out of the park toward Wall
if you can’t make it to the park now, you can visit virtually and hear from some of the Good Rangers in the Bad Lands.

After our day on the road and in the Badlands, we needed an easy evening and early bedtime. So we scheduled a grocery pick up at Walmart in Rapid City and found comfort food at a local restaurant and took it to go. There are most restaurants you can find in any town in Rapid City, but we opted for Millstone Family Restaurant. It was like a hometown Cracker Barrell and just what we needed for a home-style dinner after a couple of long days. And frankly, they were so great about curbside, we would probably pick up all our dinners to go next time!

We stayed in Box Elder in a farmhouse. It was a perfect spot for us with wide-open sunsets, hens, and roosters, wild turkey, and our neighbors were horses and a llama. Did I mention yet that we are obsessed with farm animals??

Rapid City is a great spot to spend a few days. You can spread out and explore things all over the area. We only did two nights in the region, but I think this could be a spot to stay for up to a week with your family and separate our trip in half. We say if we had to do it again, we would say do this first part of the trip as one trip and stay and explore more and then do the other half of the trip as its own excursion. But, now we have a reason to come back and explore more!

You may also love to check out some of these other vacations and adventures our family has shared together: