Badlands Boondocking Area

Bianca Bender

Pretty views. Quiet and peaceful. I stayed for two days with my camper van and had an amazing time. It is super windy and pitch-dark during the night, so please be careful driving around during the night!! ⚠️

Carol Henderson

This place is beautiful, one of our best camping experiences. Even if you come in late, pull over and by the next morning a great spot will open up. Big Horn Sheep are a common site. Like all natural areas, pack out what you brought in.

Erik Walsh

Got there after dark, but knew the layout from some online sources. Parked on the ridge to the right. Camped in the Land Rover for the night. Woke up to beautiful views overlooking the NP. Great spot!

Hi There

This was our first time Badlands Boondocking and we kept asking ourselves….”why didn’t we do this earlier?”. We drove from Sioux Falls after work around 5:15PM and arrived at 8:15PM (with the time change) in July……about a 4 hour drive total. We had just enough daylight left to get our tent set up. Anytime after this we would have been pushing it. It was pretty crowded when we arrived but did find a spot on The Wall. When driving in, we drove past the first entrance on 240 and kept driving south to the second entrance (about 7-8 miles from Wall Drug exit and 1 mile from the Pinnacles Badlands National Park entrance). It was free to camp. No electric and no campfires allowed. We saw Big Horn Sheep bedding down for the night when we got there. The sheep were grazing around 5AM. We did a very short hike in the morning before we drove to the Black Hills (our camping destination). We hiked south going toward Pinnacles entrance. You can’t go any further as there is a barbed wire fence labeled “US Boundary”. In conclusion, if you are heading toward the Black Hills from East River, maximize your trip and gain the scenic experience of Badlands Boondocking on The Wall.

Adam Schiff

We arrived around 2:30 in the afternoon. There was plenty of space and we had out choice of campsites. We left a cooler and some chairs to reserve our place before heading into the park for a few hours. When we returned around 7, it was much more crowded and I don't know that we would have gotten a good spot had we not claimed one already. The views are spectacular. We watched a herd of cattle meander below us while listening to coyotes off in the distance. It was very hot during the day but the heat broke in the evening at the night was very comfortable with a gentle breeze.