Badlands National Park – Spotting Bighorn Sheep in the wild, bouldering on the fossil trail, and visiting a paleontology wonderland
We are on a 9,000 mile Great American Road trip. You can catch up on our last post: Best 1-Day Itinerary near Mount Rushmore – Spelunking Jewel Cave, driving the Sequoia through solid rock at Needles and ringing freedom in at Mount Rushmore! here
Driving from Mount Rushmore (Larsson’s Crooked Creek RV Resort) to Badlands National Park is a short 2 hours. To get to the campground and visitor center, you drive the length of the park, and enter from the east side. Nearby, check out the Minuteman Missile Visitor Center (National Monument).
Interior Entrance
As you enter, you it’s clear to see the Badlands are shaped by millions of years of erosion. The landscape is harsh and desert like with a mix of green plains. In the winter, the Badlands freeze over and in the Summer it’s very hot. When we went the wind was gusty at about 20 MPH, and made it impossible for the tent campers to erect their tents – reminding you why they called these lands the Badlands.
For as “Bad” as you may think they are, they are equally beautiful. The erosion exposes a kaleidoscope of colors and the wild Sunflowers that grow everywhere and are nice a treat as you drive through the park.
Ben Reifel Visitor Center
The Ben Reifel Visitor Center is loaded with Paleontological exhibits. Due to the fact that the park is eroding at a rate of 1 inch per year, the amount of new fossils uncovered in the park annually is significant. In fact, if you find a fossil they will put a picture of you on the wall. In 2022 alone, between May – July they had over a hundred such pictures!
Paleontology Lab
Inside the Visitor Center there is a functioning Fossil Lab, where they have scientists working on real fossils discovered in the park!
Cedar Pass Area
Driving into the park heading West from the Ben Reifel Visitor Center you enter the Cedar Pass Area. Here the highlight is to check out the Window, Door & Notch Hike and the Fossil Exhibit Trail. These are very easy hikes for children and highly recommended.
Window / Door Hike
The best part about exploring the Badlands is the off trail hiking. You can climb any rock formation you wish. The rangers are not worried about people damaging the rocks, because they erode so quickly, the earth easily resets itself.
Spotting Bighorn Sheep
We spotted Bighorn Sheep in two different spots in the park. Apparently, there are only 150 or so in the entire park, so our sighting was unique.
Driving around the Park
An easy activity with the kids is to drive the length of the park. The best time of day to drive the park is just before sunset. Head west until the end of the park driving quickly. Then with the Sun at your back, turnaround and make your way back slowly stopping at each stop.
Doing so you will encounter many overlooks like this.
At the fossil exhibit trail, we saw these American Cliff Swallows looking out nervously at us from inside their mud nests.
Badlands Campground
We camped at the National Park’s designated Campground operated by Cedar Pass Lodge. Fortunately, we had one of the handful of sites with electricity hookups so we could run our A/C. There are no water or sewer hook ups at any of the sites. You can shower at nearby bathrooms.
Some nights at the Park, there is a Astronomy Program. This is the highlight. They setup telescopes, used laser pointers to show us the night sky and gave a great overview of the geology of the Badlands. Well worth staying up past 9PM to attend. Badlands is a great night sky viewing destination, the Milky Way is on full display.
Minuteman Missile Site
Worth stopping at nearby, is the Minuteman Missile site. While working on another Jr. Ranger Badge, here you can learn about the game changing minuteman missile. Tours are available of the bunker where one such missile was stored, we did not sign up far enough in advance to access it.
This site takes you back to the cold war era when Russia and the US both had Nuclear weapons. The US had just developed the Minuteman Missile, which could carry a nuclear payload anywhere in the world in less than 30 minutes.
Documented inside were the several close calls, when a nuclear war almost broke out. A stark reminder of the age we live in and that one crazy power hungry madman can literally end human civilization as we know it.
With the hope that we never have to re-live Cold War era, our focus shifts to Louis and Clark and their trail of discovery!
