The epic Badlands overlanding camp hiding in plain sight
If you ever find yourself driving through South Dakota on Interstate 90, a date with the land before time is awaiting your arrival. The views… are to die for. You could be forgiven for waking up on a moonlit night thinking you were sleeping on Mars. As long as you don’t suffer from a fear of being alone in a vastness difficult to describe, miles from the nearest human - read on.
A half-hour West of the town of Interior, SD (population: 65) lies the Buffalo Gap National Grassland. Geographically, this land borders the National Park just to its North. A key feature you may not have heard of is what’s known as the “OHV” / off-road vehicle use area. Don’t fret if you didn’t bring your side by side or four wheelers - anything with AWD and the ground clearance of a Subaru or better will suffice, provided there’s no rain in the forecast.
Once you cross the cattle gate (not joking, don’t let the cows out) and turn onto the dirt, the real fun begins. You will feel like you’re piloting along with Clarkson, May and the Hamster as you participate in an episode of The Grand Tour. Miles of off-road trails await, including several sections too steep and risky for 35”s & the best 4WD technology we could throw at it. What you’re really here to do is camp out overlooking Badlands National Park.
As a National Grassland, you’re permitted to spent up to 14 days camping here. The location is a total cheat code and there are few places in the country you can pull up with such* a view to a national park’s main landscape. It’s also desolate - I’ve encountered a single human on a trail run across the last 6 times I’ve stayed here. Offered him a cold drink. The location in the photographs below is about a mile in (off road). Make sure to get out and scout ahead on foot, I bottomed out my HD Diesel truck here in 2022 after a rainstorm and I have 13” of ground clearance.
There are at least three or four different ways to arrive at any one spot you can see off in the distance, just do your homework and walk before driving into something blind. This is true BYOB, so you’re going to need to haul in your own power, food, water and networking. As always - leave no trace. As you can see in the photos, our collection of Goal Zero and Starlink provided all the comforts of home, allowed us to make FaceTime calls to family and stream Thursday night football on more than one occasion.
This is not a place your cell phone has a signal. (I tried all the major carriers here as recently as Oct. 24’) I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Badlands National park over 20 times in the last five years. There’s a ton of choices both surrounding the park, as well as the official NPS camp in Interior. Of all of them, (including the famous Badlands “along the wall” location you can find in my travel library) this is my favorite. Although plenty of travelers will sleep on the Badlands and laugh away a trip to South Dakota, that’s their mistake to own. Now go find a sleeping bag and throw the car in drive - free is a great nightly price.
Solar power is your friend here if you want to do anything other than read a book. As far as I’m concerned, in places with no cell phone signal, having a Starlink that can run perpetually off a solar panel is a wilderness safety requirement. Enough sun during the day to provide you free internet (30-40W) while adding energy capacity (an additional 110W) into a solar generator to get you through the night or a cloudy 36 hours. I use two GoalZero Yeti, 1500x units and a Nomad 200 folding panel.
I maintain an always growing database of the best in overland travel destinations, complete with GPS coordinates and specific details for access (as these places can be quite hard to find) on this site. To join or learn more, click this link.