Badlands National Park
The Badlands will always hold a special place in my heart, it was the first National Park I visited. My sister and I decided to take a 9 day road trip traveling from Michigan to as many National Parks as we could make it to. We started our drive at 3 am and planned on the Badlands being our first stop! The excitement we felt when we finally arrived was unmatched. After hours of riding in the car, watching lots of fields of hay & sunflowers, and listening to Spotify we could finally stretch our legs and explore.
We arrived with only a few hours until dark so we wanted to explore the trail everyone was recommending. Our friend had recommended Notch Trail & it did not disappoint. If you only have time for one trail in the Badlands [like we did] I think this is the way to go. We were able to see everything the Badlands had to offer and it was only moderately difficult. I could hike in my sandals so it couldn’t have been too hard right?!
We only had time for one trail before it was dark, but it was the perfect trail. The end view was absolutely gorgeous and we were able to snap so many other great shots along the way. Overall, I feel like once you’ve hiked one trail in the Badlands you’ve kind of seen it all. The scenery looks mostly the same everywhere, it just depends on the difficulty you are looking for in your hike. Once nightfall hit we really had no plans for where we were staying, the camping was full at the Badlands and the town nearby had no available motels … so we ended up sleeping in the car at a gas station. It was not glamorous at all, but we made do! We got a few hours of sleep and then headed off to our next destination.
I really enjoyed exploring the Badlands, it’s so crazy how it kind of appears out of nowhere as you are driving along! To explore you really only need one day here, once you’ve hiked one or two trails you’ve seen the majority of the scenery. We were able to snap some great photos on Notch Trail, I would highly recommend it for getting an overlook of the Badlands. Check out my rating of the Badlands below & head back to the journal for more National Park blog posts.
