Badlands National Park

 

Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park is located 75 miles east of Rapid City, South Dakota. Established as a national monument in 1939, Badlands was elevated to national park status in 1978. The 244,000-acre semi-arid park is made up of vast prairie dotted with buttes, many eroded away over millions of years into rugged spires, deep canyons, and layered rock formations.

 

Hike Overview
  • • Location: Badlands National Park, South Dakota
    • Start/Finish: trailhead parking lot
    • Course Type: loop
    • Course Surface: Packed dirt, rocks, and small boulders
    • Distance: <1 mile
    • Time: not recorded
    • Average Pace: not recorded
    • Elevation Gain: not recorded
    • Elevation Range: 2,365 to 3,340 feet (for the entire park, not our hike)
    • Start time: 2:42 PM
    • Weather: 97° and mostly sunny
    • Date of Hike: July 29, 2024

 

Exploring the Park

After stopping in at the Ben Reifel Visitor Center to get my National Parks Passport stamped, we continued along Badlands Loop Road exploring the park.

 

Our first stop was for a short loop hike starting at a parking lot just off the road. The trail include dirt paths and a short section of a raised decking walkway. It was a very easy hike and gave us great views of the colorful rock formations.

 

While making our way toward higher elevation someone shouted, “Let’s go!”, but we didn’t quite understand what the guy said so we ignored him. It wasn’t until we climbed up a few rocks to the gentleman’s level and he commented on my husband’s Virginia Tech hat that we realized that we should have responded, “Hokies!” He was from Lynchburg, Virginia which is about two hours from Blacksburg, home of the Virginia Tech Hokies. As we wrapped up our conversation, he offered to take our picture.

 

After our hike we continued driving through the park, stopping at a few scenic overlooks for pictures…

 

Animals of Badlands National Park

Badlands is home to bison, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, mule deer, pronghorn, mountain lions, coyotes, and prairie dogs along with a wide variety of birds, both raptors and songbirds. Rattlesnakes are also common so always watch your step!

 

Mountain goat grazing along the side of the road…

 

Mountain goats feeding in the distance…

 

Bison and prairie dog in the field beyond the national parks sign…

 

Closer up of the prairie dog…

 

Honeybee enjoying an arrowleaf balsamroot…

 

Final Thoughts on Visiting Badlands National Park

Even though we didn’t spend a lot of time in Badlands National Park we enjoyed our time exploring the area. The beauty of rock formations and colorful landscape popping up along the prairie were beautiful and made for great pictures. 

 

Questions
  • • Have you visited the badlands of South Dakota? ~ This was my first visit.
  • • Did you notice the prairie dog in the first picture with the bison? ~ My husband shot the picture with a long lens and we didn’t notice the prairie dog until editing the picture for this recap.
  • • On hikes which do you prefer, barren desert scapes or lush forests? ~ both

 

I’m linking up with Zenaida of The Running Teacher and Jenn from Runs with Pugs for Tuesday topics Link-Up. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but those of the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!