What Is Badlands National Park South Dakota, An Eroded landscape

What Is Badlands, South Dakota
A National Park With An Eroded Landscape

The Badlands National Park In the southwest corner of
South Dakota about 60 miles east of Rapid City and
Mount Rushmore offers some stunning landscapes
and great views from the loop road with its and frequent
pull-outs and overlooks.

An eroded landscape of stratified layers of variously
colored deposits spreads over a huge area of
grasslands and makes an inspiring sight.

Enter from Route 90, the east coast to west coast
interstate highway at either the east end where you find
helicopter rides. The east west loop road is just a
small portion of the immense Badlands National Park.

Badlands National Park offers Tent and RV camping for $15 per night,
The park has an RV Dump station with a fee of $1.00 for those passing
through. They have a Self-pay kiosk that accepts credit card or correct
change for the campsite. The sites are small sites with no shade. trees.
Drive through the campground, pick an unoccupied site, pay at the kiosk,
and clip your receipt to the post. Private campgrounds are nearby in the
town of Interior.

Many wild animals inhabit the park, common sights being the prong horn antelope, the mule
deer, and in certain sections of the park, the wild buffalo. Buffalo were reintroduced and now
number 800 animals. The animal pictured below is a captive animal in a coral about a half way
between the park campground and the village of Interior.
From the parks overlooks and viewpoints you can see wild animals grazing in the flat
grassland below. Binoculars help to see them as they keep their distance from the road except
in early morning or at dusk when they are more apt to be on the move.
Lynx or bobcat work the roadsides for road kill and a large Prairie dog town lies on both sides
of the road at about the midpoint of the loop road.

RV vacationers use the park as a
convenient stopover on the way west or
east on route 90; the park's loop road is
an east/west road. Bikers on the way to
the first week in August rally at Sturgis
ND make the park a stop on the way.

In the 1870s homesteads covered the
land below the overlooks. Most were
abandoned and consolidated into large
farms or are now parkland. Just before
the east entrance to the park, a
typical homestead still stands as a
museum and is a worthwhile stop to
learn about the history of the area.

The Badlands Loop Road opens up great views and
has vista points, overlooks, and hiking trail heads
along its route.

The east west loop road runs about 40 miles between the east and west exits on I-90

Badlands South Dakota National Park offers
sightseeing on a Forty Mile loop road through an
eroded landscape. The scenic highway runs parallel to
Route 90, the east coast to west coast interstate
highway. The east west loop road is just a small portion
of the immense Badlands National Park.

Getting to the Badlands: The nearest large city is Rapid City South Dakota. Air service
reaches Rapid City from hubs in Denver and Chicago. Rental cars are available at the
airport. From Rapid City take scenic Route 44 east to Interior and the National Park
campground or take Route route 90 east to Wall and find the Park entrance and loop
road.

Best Time To Visit Badlands South Dakota: May to October   40 f at night 65 f days
The weather is perfect June, July, August but the mid day temperature can reach over 100 f.
Cool in May and September, Cold and winter snows October to April Total snow 2 feet per
year.   June is a wet month.   July and August can have thunderstorms with hail.

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What is Badlands National Park.
The Badlands of South Dakota is a National
Park with An Eroded Landscape of stratified
layers of variously colored deposits that
spreads over a huge area of grasslands.
Badlands NP is open for hiking, camping, and
sightseeing

What Is The
Badlands

What Is The Badlands, An Eroded Landscape