Badlands, and wind cave S. Dakota that bad?

When you are rating anything there has to be a top five and a bottom five.
Every national park has it's own beauty and history. I would not miss it because of some ones list.
jesseannie

Be sure to consider this part of the article

With 59 national parks in the U.S., someplace has got to be on the bottom of the list, right? Too many people. Lousy facilities. Ridiculously hostile weather. So based on a minimum of research and a heap of biased analysis, here’s an authoritative list of America’s Worst National Parks. Or, if you’re a purist nature lover, you can just call this list “The 59th to 55th Most Awesome National Parks.”

The other worst parks are Congaree, Gates of the Arctic, and Death Valley.

Yahoo Travel also has six other articles on the 'Best National Parks' and Death Valley is in the top 10 in four of those articles.

You also have to remember that almost all the 'Best' and 'Worst' list on sites like Yahoo, CNN, FoxNews, etc - are 'sponsored links' - which really means they are just advertisements, not objective articles.

Because of where we live every trip out west brings us by the Badlands. We like it enough that we cannot just pass it by. We have visited it two times in the past three years. This year we will be there for several days in June with our Grandson. There is a lot of natural beauty there. We see a lot of cars drive through as fast as they can just to check it off their list. Like anything else you have to slow down and enjoy the natural beauty. It is very unusual and is another example of how beautiful America is.

I love both the badlands and wind cave and could spend days at each. There are some wonderful roads in both, with lots of places to explore if one would only take the time. I have never been in wind cave itself, just spent hours on the surface - the landscape is beautiful.

We found Custer to be both beautiful and crowded, very crowded. If you like lots of people and touristy things to do - Custer is a better place. If you don't, or enjoy travel on and off road, by foot or by wheel, you may enjoy the Badlands and Wind Cave. There is so much more to both than just the main drag and visitor center.

Unique is the right word, and we enjoyed both of them in 2013.

Badlands NP has upgraded their campground somewhat with some electric sites and it can be reserved in advance online. One of my memories is the changing colors on the rocks that surround the campground all day, but especially sunset and sunrise.

I enjoyed Wind Cave and Jewel Cave. To the OP, when you are in Custer State Park (one of the best in America, IMHO), stop by the Game Lodge for a beverage and look at the fireplace in the bar. The crystals and rocks came from those caves.

Terrific area! we spent a week and loved every minute.

Here is a suggestion for the Badlands:
Don't just do the paved loop off of I-90 that goes from Exit 131 to Exit 110. This is the most travelled and therefore tends to have the least amount of wildlife. Be sure to do Sage Creek Rim Road (590 - a gravel road)that runs to the west end of the north unit of the park. We did this last fall and this is where we saw all the great wildlife - Buffalo, Big Horn Sheep, Pronghorn Antelope and Mule deer. The only wildlife we saw on the loop road were the Prairie Dogs.

This is not to say that you won't see any wildlife on the loop road, but that was our experience. The loop road has constant cars going either direction, while we saw only a few cars on the Sage Creek Rim Road.

As others have said, the Badlands are worth seeing, but plan for several hours rather than planning for a few days. Certainly not the worst National Park in the system (for me, those would be the 2 acre historic battlefields aka the "cannonball parks")

jesseannie wrote:
When you are rating anything there has to be a top five and a bottom five.
Every national park has it's own beauty and history. I would not miss it because of some ones list.
jesseannie

This is what I thought when I read that article.

Near me, is Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park (across from Fort Trumbull, which is very much worth visiting). People told us that it was just a few dirt mounds with rocks, no big deal. Wife and I visited it last year and found it absolutely fascinating - it helps that I love military history. Someone not into history and especially colonial era history may not appreciate it, but I did.

If you are nearby, check whatever it is out! You never know - and, of course, come back here and tell us about it!

agesilaus wrote:

Maybe they were talking about the CG which really is awful. WE stayed there once maybe ten or twelve years ago. It is a bare patch of dirt and gets really hot during the summer.

x2 on the Badlands campground being awful.

The park is nice, it's different thought, very desert like. The rock formations and wildlife are both treats for a photographer. All sorts of critters and birds, as well as the way the light on the rock formations changes throughout the day.

dewey02 wrote:
...
As others have said, the Badlands are worth seeing, but plan for several hours rather than planning for a few days. Certainly not the worst National Park in the system (for me, those would be the 2 acre historic battlefields0 aka the "cannonball parks")

LOL!! We obviously posted at the same time. I love those parks! BUT... I understand that they are not multi-day excursions.

You can't compare the Badlands to Yellowstone any more than you can make fish taste like hamburger. I enjoyed the Badlands. It isn't much of a detour. 20 miles if you skip it and 40 miles if you drive the loop. As I was driving through it, I kept wondering what the first pioneers thought they were getting into. The end of the world, perhaps?
And either way, you can stop at Wall Drug Store at the western end and have someone take your picture sitting on the back of a giant concrete Jackalope. That's an animal usually only seen late at night just outside of bars at closing time. The bottom half is an antelope and the top half is a jackrabbit.