North Unit
Permit Information
No permit is required, but all backpackers are urged to stop at the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. Backpackers may camp anywhere in the park that is at least one-half mile from any road or trail and not visible from park roads. No fires are permitted.
Directions
From Westbound Interstate 90, take exit 131 (Cactus Flat) or exit 110 (Wall). Signs to Badlands National Park will take you 11 miles to the NE Entrance. From Eastbound Interstate 90, take exit 109 and follow signs 7 miles to Pinnacles Entrance.
Information Center
The Ben Reifel Visitor Center, located at Cedar Pass, 4 miles southwest of the Northeast Entrance, has exhibits, sales area, film and park headquarters.
Palmer Creek Unit
Palmer Creek Unit is the smallest and most remote section of Badlands National Park. Here you may explore the mixed grass prairie with the backdrop of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires for which the Badlands is famous. As in the Stronghold Unit, there are no established trails in the Palmer Creek Unit. You may hike anywhere in this region, but you must be familiar with navigation and routefinding, as it is easy to get disoriented. All routes into Palmer Creek are impassable if any rain has fallen recently. Inquire at the White River Visitor Center for road conditions.
No permit is required, but all backpackers are urged to stop at the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. Backpackers may camp anywhere in the park that is at least one-half mile from any road or trail and not visible from park roads. No fires are permitted.
Directions
Access to the Palmer Creek Unit is extrememly difficult; all of the roads are privately owned and you need 4WD. From Hwy 44, head south on 589/27 at Scenic, 20 miles to White River Visitor Center, which is your launching point into the Palmer Creek Unit.
Information Center
There is no information center in the Palmer Creek Unit. Visitors should stop at the White River Visitor Center in neighboring Stronghold Unit, open from June to late August.
Stronghold Unit
The Stronghold Unit is co-managed with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and includes sites of 1890s Ghost Dances. The land is contained within the Pine Ridge Indain Reservation. Visitors to the Stronghold Unit will find the same spectacular rock formations and mixed grass prairie as in the North Unit, but with a more remote and desolate feel. There are no established trails in the Stronghold Unit. You may hike anywhere in this region, but you must be familiar with navigation and routefinding, as it is easy to get disoriented.
A visit to Sheep Mountain Table will reward the visitor with one of Badlands National Park's most outstanding vistas. This 4 mile long plateau is surrounded by steep drop offs and is accessible by a 7 mile dirt road which is passable ohly when dry. Because this is a sacred place for the Lakota people, do not disturb any religious artifacts or prople participating in religious activities.
Permit Information
No permit is required, but all backpackers are urged to stop at the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. Backpackers may camp anywhere in the park that is at least one-half mile from any road or trail and not visible from park roads. No fires are permitted.
Directions
From Hwy. 44, head south on 589/27 at Scenic, 20 miles to White River Visitor Center. Unimproved roads provide access deep into the Stronghold Unit. These roads are impassable when wet.
Information Center
White River Visitor Center is open from June to late August.
