Nomad View Dispersed Camping

This was our first boondocking experience, and it has set our expectations high! We arrived late in the day on a Thursday in late June. We found the site easily by looking for the towers off of HWY 240, though there were a few big RVs up on the ridge that helped our confidence that we were in the right place. For our first night we turned right once we got to the ridge. The views were incredible, with the vast landscape of the Badlands in every direction. By the end of our first day our area became crowded, so we headed down to the left side of the ridge. While the views were different, we had far more privacy and better cell service. The area was clean and well maintained, with a mix of RVs, trailers, and tent campers along the ridge. A herd of bighorn sheep came by every day, and the occasional car drove by exploring the road. This sits just outside the entrance of the National Park, and about 8 miles down the road from Wall, SD. If we ever find ourselves back in the Badlands, we will stay here without question.

Warning: on our last night we had very strong winds that were rocking our Airstream all night. Since we were sitting on the edge of a ridge, it was a scary experience for us. We'd go back, but maybe park just a little further away from the ridge next time. I'd recommend keeping an eye on the weather, as storms can blow in fast.

Located just north of the Wall entrance to Badlands N.P, this unmarked campground's sites perch on the edge of a cliff overlooking typical badlands terrain. No services, no tables or latrines Obvious sites along the road that runs along the cliff edge.

We were visited by big horn sheep -- a ewe and her kid.

The views are terrific but the wind is strong and blows nearly all the me. Cell phone service was good - we were practically under the towers.

About 5 miles east out of Wall, watch for the radio towers on the left side of the road.
I would not recommend going in if it has been raining!

This was a great place to start our adventure going west, we were the only ones there so we could let our dogs run and unwind. It was a little too windy for a campfire but that was the only thing missing. We had a very peaceful walk along the bluff before turning in for the night. We wanted to stay again on the return trip but it had rained the night before and the road in turns to mud and it would not have turned out well for our truck or Airstream, next time!

When driving in towards the radio towers we recommend turning towards the left and driving down the bluff a ways to get away from the towers a little bit. There also seems to be more spots in that direction!

We arrived midafternoon on a weekday to an open gate. There were a few other people perched next to the cliff. The views are absolutely beautiful. You can see for miles and miles into the Badlands. With binoculars, you can even see the Minuteman III silo. The weather was very windy for the entirety of our stay.

We stayed next to the two towers. There were about 3-4 consistent neighbors with many coming in just for the night. Everyone respected each other and was quiet.

The area was dry when we were there. The road had deep ruts, which may make it inaccessible when wet.

There is about 2.5 miles of rim to camp on. So, you don't have to be near people if you don't want to. When the gate was open, more wanderers would enter the area. There were a few early morning and late evening visitors due to the amazing views of the sunrise and sunset. The gate wasn't always open, but was easy to open and shut for accessibility.

Opportunities to hike and explore the Badlands are plentiful, as are the Bighorn Sheep. The Badlands entrance is a short drive away.

No water or electricity. So, bring your own. The cell coverage was excellent.

This area is some of the best boondocking that I have ever found. The views of the badlands and the wildlife around here are just breathtaking and despite being so close to the park entrance it is perfectly peaceful here.

It is very easy to access, although the entry road is slightly rutted up so be careful especially if conditions are wet. The area is easy to find, it is in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, which sort of encompass the Badlands National Park. The access road is a rough dirt road that is on your left as you drive south on Hwy 240 towards the Pinnacle entrance of the National Park - about 6 miles south of Wall, SD and 1 mile north of the park entrance. The area has two cell towers to mark that it is the correct road. If the barbed wire fence is up you may just move it to drive in/out and then replace it. It is there because these grasslands are included in some grazing rights given to local ranchers. When driving down the road towards the rim it has one sketchy area that is rutted from mud as it is a low point, once past this the road was actually pretty good to drive on for such a primitive road. When it reaches the rim of the overlook, it appears to only go to the right, but in fact goes left along the rim also - there are more camping spaces and generally more privacy down this way. There are some pretty obvious camp sites along the road, but truthfully you can pull off anywhere that suits your needs. On one night when there were five or six of us camping along the ridge everyone fit fine all going to the right of the entry road and it was actually a wonderful communal feel up there.

The wildlife is where this place really excels after you finish taking in the view. There were bighorn sheep with plenty of lambs that would walk right up to your site - very friendly. The hawks like the ridge because they can glide seemingly endlessly by riding the wind coming up over the ridge and we heard coyotes howling in the distance each night. Although the access road continues all the way up and around to the fence marking the park boundary, there is a point at a turn in the ridge where there is a small "no motor vehicles" sign - I would recommend following that unless you have a 4x4 with clearance. Aside from that there is plentiful camping for all types of vehicles. We stayed in a 33' Class C with no issues at all, and we saw every other type of camper come and enjoy the area throughout our stay. we stayed for a whole week and had we not had other plans would've loved to stay longer.

Cell service here is stellar (a bit obviously)

This is a spectacular free campsite within view of the Pinnacles entrance to Badlands NP. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here – beautiful views, solitude, and quiet. Doesn’t get much better.

As other reviewers have noted – be sure to OPEN and CLOSE the gate at the entrance. It is only barbed wire, so can be difficult to see and someone had just driven through it before we arrived and trashed the gate.

The road up the hill past the radio towers is a rutted, dirt track. Bumpy but navigable when we arrived. Unfortunately, another RVer left after a rainy night while the ground was soft. We walked the road and it was clear where he’d been stuck for a bit and carved ruts now about 12” deep in some places. Absolutely would not recommend this route until the road is filled/graded. HOWEVER, there is an alternative!

As you come up the hill, take the FIRST left towards the radio tower. It looks like it dead ends at the tower, but the road will crest a small hill and continue past the tower giving you an option to go either left or right along the bluff. Taking this route, you can bypass just about all of the rutted section of the access road.

There are fewer sites heading right along the bluff, however I think the very best site is the one at the end of this section. That was occupied when we arrived, so we went left and found several excellent sites. We had no trouble getting level and enjoyed the views from our patio area on the edge of the bluff. The herd of Big Horn Sheep (about 30 of them) made several appearances and they were not the least bit concerned about us. In fact, it was difficult to get them to move out of the way!

We were also treated to a fantastic electrical storm which lasted several hours. Quite the show with heavy rain eventually tapering off by early morning. Even so, the ground was firm enough on the alternate route that we were able to leave by 9AM. Another option is take the “road” along the bluff on left, the track continues along the bluff and through the grassland for about 3 miles (just an estimate) and then meets up with the main road. This was obviously a less traveled route and didn’t have the big ruts of the shorter access road. We easily navigated it in our CRV and would have used it to leave in our motorhome if we hadn’t found the alternate route past the radio tower.

We had 3 bars of Verizon 4G unboosted. We would not hesitate to stay here again, just be sure to check out the condition of the access road when you arrive.