Badlands Overlanding Loop

The Badlands overlanding route around Wall, South Dakota strings together three distinct pieces of public land. Inside Badlands National Park, the Badlands Loop State Scenic Byway (SD 240) is paved and carries most of the traffic, while Sage Creek Rim Road (SD 590) turns to dirt and gravel and runs west through the Sage Creek Wilderness toward the park boundary. Sheep Mountain Table Road is the roughest of the three and the Park Service recommends four-wheel drive for it. National Park Service rules apply to all of them: vehicles must be street legal and stay on designated roads, and off-road driving is prohibited. North and south of the park, the Buffalo Gap National Grassland is managed by the Forest Service under different rules, and that is where the camping flexibility comes from. Dispersed camping on the grassland is free for up to 14 days, and motorized vehicles may leave designated roads by up to 300 feet purely to reach a campsite. Inside the park, Sage Creek Campground sits right on Sage Creek Rim Road with 22 first-come, first-served sites and no fee. Bison roam freely across both the park and the grassland. The Park Service requires visitors to stay at least 100 feet back, and a bison can cover ground faster than 30 miles per hour, so photograph them from the vehicle. The roads are open year round, but the dirt sections here are gumbo clay that turns to grease within minutes of rain and can close outright after storms or snow. Plan around the weather rather than the calendar. Fuel, groceries, and a last cell signal are available in Wall, and after that the horizon belongs to prairie dogs, bighorn sheep, and some of the darkest skies in the northern plains.