Driving through Badlands National Park and visiting Wall Drug

Badlands National Park is in South Dakota and offers views of intricate rock formations, canyons, and wildlife among vast scenery and open grasslands.

You can drive through the park and park at different lookout points. This is a picture of what some of the rock formations look like that you can see throughout the park.

Over time, the buttes and spires have gradually formed from the processes of deposition and erosion. It’s amazing to think that the park has formed its landscape from geological causes.

At some lookout points, the rock formations go off into the distance for as far as you can see. Even at times when you’re merely driving through the park, the surrounding views are greatly scenic.

As you make some of the turns on the main road, there is always plenty more to see around the corner.

Taking a close look at the rock formations, you can see that they are layered. These layers form as a result of particles settling from water and air. The rock types that can be found throughout the rocks in the park include sandstone, siltstone, mud stone, clay stone, limestone, volcanic ash, and shale.

There are all sorts of different colors in the rocks, making for some unique scenery. The way the rocks are layered is photogenic!

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took in the park. I actually had to climb up one of the rocks to get this shot. Speaking of climbing, this national park has an open hiking policy, which means you’re allowed to hike off-trail. Exercise that privilege with caution!

The most popular route in the park for visitors to take is the Badlands Loop Road (SD 240), which starts in a small town called Wall. This route is a two-lane paved road and features many lookout points and places to pull off safely. To access the Loop Road, head south from Interstate 90 via Exit 110 (Wall) or Exit 131.

This is the kind of open landscape that you can see as you drive in certain parts of the park. In the open land, you can see lots of prairie dogs too, especially when you’re first coming into the park. Be on the lookout as they come out of their holes!

Also, the Loop Road has plenty of other wildlife that occasionally cross the street, so be careful and drive slow. After all, driving slow allows you to enjoy the views! This is a bighorn sheep that was crossing the street.

There were three bighorn sheep, and despite people stopping to get pictures, they stood their ground. As long as you’re not holding up traffic, it’s a great opportunity to get some good pictures. However, even if there is traffic, mostly everyone wants to stop and see the wildlife anyway.

As we started to get closer to the end of the Loop Road, the sun was setting. It made for a nice silhouette of the rock formations.

Before you get to the Badlands Loop Road, you will be in a town called Wall that I mentioned earlier. In this small town, there is a well-known tourist attraction called Wall Drug Store. It is a drug store with a gift shop, eateries, and other things to keep you entertained as you make a stop on the road to wherever you’re going.

In their extensive gift shop, they have all kinds of souvenirs like ornaments, stickers, magnets, and cups.

They have handmade cake donuts among other kinds like chocolate, vanilla, and maple. These homemade treats are a good favorite at Wall Drug!

According to Wall Drug’s website, the store got its start with the promise of free ice water. The Husteads, which is the family that started the store, made signs to put on Highway 16 and 14 to attract visitors to take a refreshing break at their store.

The ice water is still free today! When I was at Wall Drug, I did not know about how the store got started, so I didn’t realize that the free ice water was such an inherent part of the store’s history. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any… Being such a big water drinker myself, now I have a reason to go back!

However, I did treat myself to a Wall Drug mint chocolate shake. It was really good, so I recommend that as a nice cold treat as you make your way through the touristic madness.

Making a drive on the popular Loop Road at Badlands National Park is a worthwhile adventure that will make you want to go back to see more. Even Wall Drug is a fun stop to check out before you enter the park! There is more to Badlands than the Loop Road, so do not limit your options if you are spending a whole day or two in the area. With that said, I look forward to going back to the park, and I also look forward to getting some free ice water!