Badlands Wilderness Campground
Our Camping Trip Experience
When
you think of "wilderness camping," what do you think of? Miles and
miles of lush green forest, wild animals, and absolutely no one around?
Not so in the Badlands wilderness! Our Badlands wilderness camping
experience was totally different than what we expected!
Driving from Tripp SD in early May, we
figured we would "beat the heat." We took Hwy 44 all the way there, and
once we got to the small town of "Interior," we headed north to the Badlands National Park and Visitor's Center. The first place we stopped was the Cedar Pass Lodge.
The Visitor Center's rangers explained to us how the wilderness campground
worked, and where it was located. It turned out that it was located 50 miles
west of the Visitor's Center. Not realizing this at first, we didn't take
many pictures of the Badlands, thinking we could come back later.
Once we realized it was 50 miles away, we knew there was no returning. (See
the pictures of the Badlands from our 2011
trip)
We arrived at the wilderness campground toward sunset, and so we
went ahead and set up our tent in the campground. There were three
buffalo grazing nearby to our amazement.
The next morning, these three buffalo
decided to walk through the campground. They were losing their winter
fur, and were using the shelter posts to rub off their winter coat.
We woke up rather chilly, because the wilderness campground sits in
a valley. From a distance, it reminded me of a "wagon train" type of
setup.
We were forwarned by the Visitor's Center, that there is no water at
the wilderness campground, and only an outhouse. The campground has
about 10 to 15 camping spots with picnic tables, and cabana type shelters. No open
fires are allowed.
The Procedure for Camping in the Wilderness
The procedure for camping in the Badlands wilderness, is to drive
your car to the southeast corner of the Sage Creek campground and park. Then fill out a registry
form that lets a ranger know you have hiked into the wilderness, and
when you will return. If you are not back by the day you say, they send
in a search party for you.
No Water!
They recommend that you take a gallon of water per person, per day,
and this is the "catch." For 2 people you would need 2 gallons
per day. Water is heavy, and carrying two gallons, along with your gear keeps you from hiking too far, and staying too long.
So if you need more water, you have to return to your vehicle. If
you run out of water, you have to drive 50 miles back to the Visitor's
Center, or drive 20 miles north to the town of Wall, and then back
again.
There is a small creek running nearby the campground, but the water
is not drinkable. It is bitter and all the rocks in the creek have a
white sediment dried on them. See this picture of Vlad by the creek.
The wilderness camping is free... but you can't stay long unless you
have a huge container of water with you. I suspect most people stay in
the campground, and then just take "day hikes."
The Badlands Wilderness Scenery
The first morning, we packed our gear to go look for a place to
"wilderness" camp. There are few trees, and most of the barren hills
reminded me of "strip mining" hills from long ago, maybe looking for
gold? Here's a picture of the type of stuff on top of the hills.
There is a lot of prairie with small herds of buffalo grazing, which
is pretty cool to see, and lots of Prairie Dogs that chatter at you as
you are walking by.
Climbing the hills is tiresome if you are not used to it, but we
found out "after the fact," that there is a buffalo/horse trail behind
the hills which is much easier to hike.
Our Camping Spot
We located a spot to camp by searching the surrounding hills with
our binoculars. We were disappointed that the "actual" Badlands scenic peaks were at
least 10 miles away from us in all directions.
The spot we found to camp was a small level area hidden in some
cedar trees. We dropped our gear, set up a tarp tent, and went
exploring. Walking the "peaks" was easy,
they are covered with rocks, some were covered in a reddish clay,
and rather crumbly looking. We didn't climb those, they looked too
scary.
Vlad found some rocks that looked like the type Indians used to "knap" arrowheads, so he spent a lot of time knapping rocks.
The next day we had to make a decision of whether to go back to the
vehicle to get more water, or just leave. Here's why we had to make a descision. Look how far we are from the campground.
We decided to go get more
water and spend another night. We followed the buffalo/horse trail we
found, and it only took us 20 minutes to get back, which was amazing!
We cooked potatoes on a small homemade campstove
and made some tea.
The next morning, two buffalo decided to take the trail, and I took
a picture as he was standing outside our camping spot. We were
wondering whether we had taken their camping spot! The buffalo
generally stay 20 to 30 feet from you, and they just mosey along doing
their own thing.
Our Wilderness Camping Conclusion
I would say we were generally disappointed with the Badlands
Wilderness camping experience. It wasn't what we expected at all, even though we did have a chance to test our "wilderness
survival skills" and was dramatically impressed with the notion that...
"You can't live without water!"
Pictures of the Badlands
A view looking west after leaving the Visitor Center... view looking west
View of the Badlands Loop Road sign and peaks... Badland peaks ...another view
First stop is an scenic overlook view... scenic overlook ... view southwest ... another view south
Badlands wall... Badlands wall view ... view east ... view northeast
Me in the jeep view... me in the jeep ... jeep in the Badlands
See the campground where we stayed on the way back home: Platte Creek Campground.
__________________________________________________
New Pages 2011
South Dakota Badlands - 2011 pictures
taken during a storm!
1880 Town Attraction - Located on I 90, exit
170
Pease Creek Campground - a cute
campground with a horse camp.
North Wheeler Campground - a
great place to go fishing!
New
and Updated Pages 2009
South
Dakota Hotels - An easy site to check for SD hotels and make reservations
Badlands Wilderness Camping - We did some wilderness camping in the Badlands.
Platte Creek Campground - Tent camping on the Missouri River, Southern SD.
Buryanek Campground - A nice campground recommended by our friends.
Added a page on Pollock SD March 2008
