Everyone driving along I-90 in South Dakota should take a slight detour and drive the thirty odd miles along Badlands National Park loop road. It’s beautiful! If possible, drive east to west and stop at the visitor center to watch the movie and see the excellent displays covering the geology, fossils, plants, animals, and human history of the park lands. A campground with electric and non-electric sites, a dump station, and fresh water is located near the visitor center.
Accessibility is very good. The visitor center and theater are completely accessible. All of the overlooks have new curb cuts. Most have boardwalks to the viewing platforms. Many of the overlook parking lots have an accessible vault toilet. There are four short, accessible, boardwalk trails.The only places that we found lacking were the picnic areas and campground. The tables have a very short overhang and are centered on a concrete pad without any extra room for a wheelchair. If the pad isn’t level with the ground the table is not usable by a person in a wheelchair. The campground supposedly has two accessible sites but they all looked the same to us.
All of the sites in the campground are pull-offs parallel to the road. Some are long enough for any RV. The visitor center has long RV spaces. The loop road has a few hills and is windy so it’s a slow trip. Most of the overlook parking lots are large enough for RVs. Park
43.74864, -101.94186
Hey you guys are out West! I hope to make it to the Dakota's some day!
ReplyDeleteWe're on our way to Seattle.:-)
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you're having a great time! You'd like South Dakota but probably just the western section. The east is mostly flat,just ranches and farms.
We ended up skipping the bad lands as we were in a "make up lost time" mode as we crossed alot of South Dakota.
ReplyDeleteYeah , I know what you mean. We were planning on visiting Yellowstone on this cross country trip. Ba sure to stop at the badlands on your next trip - you'll love it!
ReplyDelete