What To See and Do in Badlands National Park

My sister and I drove up to Badlands National Park to meet our parents for a long weekend of exploring South Dakota. It was about a 6 hour drive from Boulder and honestly, it wasn’t that bad. The roads are pretty flat, straight and empty so it was an easy (just long) drive. Let’s just say we listened to a lot of T Swift and it definitely made the drive go by faster!

I had zero expectations for Badlands National Park and didn’t do much research beforehand. I wasn’t surprised to find out that it is an amazing, massive park and extremely beautiful. It also just comes out of the middle of nowhere which makes it that much more impressive. What I also liked about it was that it was empty. There weren’t many tourists there so it felt a little untouched which is always a nice bonus when visiting a national park.

We spent one full day at Badlands and it felt like it was the right amount of time. Of course, you could stay longer and explore more of the scenery but one day was enough for us. The weather also changed pretty quickly, I was wearing shorts in the morning and then changed into leggings in the afternoon. It was also a bit windy so make sure you bring layers!

Scenic Viewpoints and Overlooks

The main thing to do at Badlands National Park is to drive the Badlands Loop. It takes you around the park and gives you all the views as you go. There are plenty of stopping points to stretch your legs and take in the views. Our favorite overlook points were:

Panorama Point, Pinnacles Overlook, Yellow Mounds, Big Badlands Overlook, and White River Valley Overlook.

^^ We even saw some big horned sheep and bison, so make sure you keep your eyes open for wildlife, especially in the Sage Creek Rim area.

Hikes in Badlands

We also went on some great hikes too. There aren’t that many hikes in Badlands National Park so it wasn’t hard to choose which ones to go on. We started with Notch Trail which is a 1.5 mile hike that takes you through a canyon. It was absolutely gorgeous and even had a wooden ladder that you have to climb up to then walk along the cliff trail. It was a great hike to start the day and to experience being inside the canyon.

^^ The wooden ladder on Notch Trail.

We also hiked Castle Trail which meets up with Saddle Pass Trail. This trail was under 5 miles and was fairly flat but had some uphill areas if you wanted to climb up the rocks for some extra views.

^^ The scenery feels very spacey and I actually think they’ve filmed quite a few movies here.

Some other easy mini trails we did were the Fossil Exhibit, Window Trail and Door Trail. These were all flat and didn’t require sneakers or hiking boots.