We were lucky enough to call Buffalo Gap National Grasslands home for a week. What a beautiful place to visit in South Dakota. We were here because there is a great cell signal, and it is less than five minutes to the Pinnacles entrance to Badlands National Park. This entrance puts us at the northern part of the northern section of the park and is also close to Wall.
Geology of the Badlands
The Badlands were created over 75 to 28 million years ago. The sediments built up during the time when a shallow sea covered this part of the continent. Later, the wind and rivers added new layers. About 500,000 years ago they began eroding to what Andrew and I got to experience on our stay. The Badlands are made of sedimentary rock and so they erode about an inch a year!
Views with Little Walks
There were a number of places to stop and take in the views from Buffalo Gap National Grasslands and Badlands National Park.
Door, Window, and Notch
A few of our favorite spots for looking with short walks were Door, Window, and Notch Trails. These are all accessible from the same parking lot and each is a pretty short walk/hike. The views of this area of the Badlands are really spectacular! The walks here are partially on boardwalk and very accessible, and also offer a bit more adventure if you’re up for it. The Notch trail will take you through a slump and up a ladder to continue on the trail to additional views. This was a fun trail at the end of March when the temperatures were in the 50s and there were few people around. I can only imagine how hot and busy this gets during the main tourist season!
Cliff Shelf
The other little walk we took was in the slump at Cliff Shelf Nature Trail. This is an oasis in the Badlands! Up a boardwalk and stairs we had a beautiful view of the park, juniper, and sage. Evidently, these slumps are created when a large part of the sedimentary stone falls from above it allows for plant life to take hold.
Hikes with Views
Our longest and favorite hike was the Castle Trail/Medicine Route. This was 11 miles round trip and pretty easy after hiking over the snow at high elevations in the Great Basin. We took the Castle Trail out and Medicine Route back. The turn around point for us was another possible view with a little walk. The Fossil Exhibit Trail was on a boardwalk and full of cool information about animals that used to live in the Badlands.
Wall, South Dakota
So much hype all along the highways into Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. Billboard after billboard all about Wall Drug. So, we went one night around 5:30 PM hoping for a little entertainment and dinner. Everything in town basically closes at 5. Maybe during tourist season it’s open later? Anyway-we didn’t bother going back.
Our RV Views
If you’re traveling through South Dakota I highly recommend staying on the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. It’s free and we got to look into the national park each time we stepped out our door!
