City: Badlands National Park, SD

Category: Tours & Attractions

Address: SR 240

Insider Pick:

Description: Badlands Loop Road is the most heavily traveled road in the park, doubtless because it takes you to the most popular hiking trails and overlooks. Points of interest along the road are well marked, and all are worth stopping for. The wheelchair-accessible Fossil Exhibit Trail, for instance, is a short, circular boardwalk along which you’ll find “fossils under glass”—replicas of fossils found in the area and displayed in boxes with domed, heavy plastic lids. Bigfoot Pass Overlook tells a poignant tale of a doomed people and a dying leader trapped between two worlds. (You’ll find more information about the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre in the Day Trips & Weekend Getaways chapter.) At the Yellow Mounds Overlook you’ll see low, ancient hills that oxidized and turned yellow after the inland sea receded. There are other sights that you won’t want to miss, so plan to take your time.