Badlands National Park
An hour east of Rapid City, and unlike anywhere else you have driven.
Badlands National Park sits about an hour east of Rapid City on I-90. You come over a rise on Highway 240 and the prairie simply drops away into banded spires and gullies. It is the single most photographed hour of most people's trip out here.
Driving the Loop
The Badlands Loop Road, Highway 240, runs between the Northeast Entrance and the town of Wall. Driven straight through it takes well under an hour, but nobody drives it straight through. Big Badlands Overlook near the northeast entrance is the first proper view, and the Yellow Mounds area further along shows the softer bands of colour that surprise people who expect grey rock.
If you only stop twice, make it Big Badlands Overlook and Pinnacles.
When to go
Light does most of the work here. Early morning and the last hour before sunset are dramatically better than the middle of the day, when the sun flattens everything out.
Summer afternoons get genuinely hot and there is almost no shade anywhere in the park. Carry more water than you think you need. Spring and autumn are more comfortable and much quieter.
Wildlife
Bison, bighorn sheep, pronghorn and prairie dogs all live in the park. The prairie dog towns along the Loop Road are easy to spot and endlessly entertaining. Keep well back from bison — they are far faster than they look, and every year somebody learns this the hard way.
Making a day of it
Most people pair the park with Wall, at the northern end, and treat the whole thing as a day trip from Rapid City. If you would rather not drive it yourself, several local outfitters run guided day trips out from Rapid City.