Reviews

Eric Franz

100% off the grid with the best view for sunrise ever. HINT!!!!! Enter the southern access road, closest to the park entrance (giant microwave tower is your guiding landmark). When you get to the camp road turn right and there are 15 campsites that are all newly improved and sit on LEVEL graded gravel. The other sites to the north nearer to Wall are all a mess.

Robert n Michelle (Luna Express Travels)

We love this boondocking place. Unfortunately you can't park along the edge anymore but you can park on the other side of the little road it's just as nice. Watching the sunrise there is amazing. The Badlands loop is right down the road we saw all sorts of animals from Buffalo to prairie dogs. At night the second night we even got a 2-minute glimpse of the Aurora Borealis in the northern part of the sky. Plus you're only a 7 minute ride to Wall drug.

Craig Curtis

Loved our 2 days here! was supposed to be 3 but waterpump went out and had to spend second night in town. Make sure and chock well! We did and needed it when we had to hitch up in a downpour to leave. We actually fell asleep outside listening to coyotes singing away.

Amanda Mueller

Great spot just outside the National Park. It is currently free camping, but some development going on so not sure if it will stay that way. The road is a little rough but passable with lots of designated campsites. The view is spectacular! We found a trail to hike down into the badlands from the boondocking spot, cool hike, lots of bighorn sheep tracks but didn’t spot any. Sites not particularly level and as always there are some thoughtless campers who run their generators all night.

Cody Thompson

Great spot for free dispensed camping while on a road trip. Others bring campers out and stay multiple days, but I enjoyed it for a night while passing through. I've seen pictures of the sunrises and wanted to experience it myself and pictures don't do it justice. You need to see it with your own eyes. The ridge had more people there than I would have guested being it was mid September during the week, but each site has a good amount of room. I was plenty surprised how good of cell reception I had out there. I also really like how amazing it feels out there, like you're really remote, but you can be back in town for supplies in 10- 15 minutes.

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.