Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park lies in the southwestern corner of South Dakota, roughly 75 miles east of Rapid City along Interstate 90. The park covers 242,756 acres of sharply eroded buttes, spires, and grassland on the edge of the Great Plains. The formations contain one of the world's richest concentrations of Oligocene mammal fossils, dating from about 37 to 23 million years ago, when the area supported subtropical forests and savannas. About 1,200 American bison roam the mixed-grass prairie alongside bighorn sheep, pronghorn, and one of the country's only wild populations of black-footed ferrets. Badlands ranks 30th among the 63 national parks by annual visitation, drawing roughly 1.1 million visitors in 2023.

One of the world's richest Oligocene fossil beds, yielding remains of three-toed horses, ancient rhinos, saber-toothed cats, and camels that lived 23 to 37 million years ago. A herd of roughly 1,200 American bison that roam freely across the mixed-grass prairie and are regularly visible from the road. The 39-mile Badlands Loop Road (South Dakota 240), which passes dozens of overlooks and cuts directly through the eroded formations. One of the largest populations of black-tailed prairie dogs in the United States, concentrated at Roberts Prairie Dog Town near the Sage Creek Wilderness.

By car: Two entrance stations serve the North Unit. The Northeast Entrance is off Exit 131 on I-90, near the town of Interior. The Pinnacles (Northwest) Entrance is off Exit 110, near Wall, South Dakota. The 39-mile Badlands Loop Road (SD 240) connects both entrances. From Rapid City, allow about 1 hour (75 miles) via I-90 East to either entrance. From Sioux Falls, allow about 4 hours (340 miles) via I-90 West.

By air: Rapid City Regional Airport (RAP) is approximately 75 miles from the Northeast Entrance and has regular commercial service. Sioux Falls Regional Airport (FSD) is about 340 miles east and offers more connections to major hubs.

By car from Mount Rushmore: The drive from Mount Rushmore to the Badlands Northeast Entrance is approximately 80 miles and takes about 1.5 hours via U.S. 16A and I-90.

The Badlands formations began as flat plains built up over millions of years by sediment washed east from the Rocky Mountains and by volcanic ash from eruptions to the west. The deposits accumulated from roughly 37 to 23 million years ago during the Eocene and Oligocene epochs, burying the subtropical forests and savannas that once existed here and preserving the bones of the mammals that lived in them.

The erosion that created the current landscape began about 500,000 years ago as streams cut into the flat sediment layers. Water moves quickly across the clay-rich rock, and the formations erode at an average rate of about 1 inch per year — fast by geologic standards. During intense rainstorms the rate is much higher; the shape of the Badlands changes measurably from year to year.

Each color band in the formations records a different environment and period. The black and gray layers at the base are Cretaceous marine shale deposited when a shallow sea covered the region 70 million years ago. The distinctive yellow and orange mounds are ancient oxidized soil horizons. The white and tan upper layers are volcanic ash and river sediment from the Oligocene, and these contain most of the fossils.

The park sits on the edge of the Badlands Wall, a long escarpment that separates the upper prairie (about 100 feet higher) from the lower prairie below. The Wall runs roughly east-west and is most dramatic near the northeast and Pinnacles entrances, where the Loop Road passes through gaps in the eroded cliff face.

American bison were reintroduced to the park in 1963 and the herd now numbers roughly 1,200 animals. Bison are visible from the road year-round and frequently stand on or cross the Loop Road; stay in your vehicle and do not approach closer than 25 yards. The herd is managed through periodic roundups to maintain sustainable population levels.

Bighorn sheep were reintroduced in 1964 and now number in the hundreds. They favor the rocky walls of the formations and are frequently spotted near the Cedar Pass area and along the Badlands Wall. Pronghorn antelope move across the open prairie in small groups and are among the fastest animals in North America.

Black-footed ferrets, the most endangered mammal in North America, were declared extinct in the wild in the 1980s before a small population was discovered in Wyoming. Badlands received a reintroduction in 1994 and now holds one of the few self-sustaining wild populations. Ferrets are nocturnal and rarely seen without a spotlight at night; ranger programs in summer include occasional ferret spotlight walks.

Roberts Prairie Dog Town supports one of the largest black-tailed prairie dog colonies in the country. Coyotes, badgers, and burrowing owls all depend on prairie dog colonies for food and burrows. Ferruginous hawks and golden eagles hunt the open grassland year-round. The park's dark skies support large populations of nighthawks and common poorwills active from dusk onward.

The Lakota Sioux called the eroded formations "mako sica," meaning bad lands, long before European contact. French Canadian fur trappers encountered the terrain in the early 1800s and used a similar phrase, "les mauvaises terres à traverser" — the bad lands to cross. Both names referred to the difficulty of traveling through the broken clay terrain on foot or horseback.

The Lakota people lived throughout the region for centuries, hunting bison across the mixed-grass prairie. After the Great Sioux War of 1876–77, the U.S. government confined the Lakota to reservations. In the fall and winter of 1890, Lakota followers of the Ghost Dance movement retreated into the remote southwestern part of the Badlands — an area now within the park called the Stronghold — seeking a place to practice their religion without interference. The Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29, 1890, at a site about 20 miles south of the park, ended the Ghost Dance era in the region and remains one of the most significant events in Lakota history.

During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Forces used a portion of the Badlands as a gunnery and bombing range. Unexploded ordnance from that period remains in the Stronghold Unit today; off-trail travel in some areas is restricted for this reason.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Badlands a National Monument on January 25, 1939. Congress redesignated it as Badlands National Park on November 10, 1978. The South Unit — roughly 133,000 acres within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation — is managed cooperatively with the Oglala Sioux Tribe under a 1976 agreement. The Ben Reifel Visitor Center is named for Ben Reifel, a Lakota Sioux who worked as a ranger and superintendent at Badlands and later served as the first Sioux member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1961 to 1971.