Experiencing “The Wall” in South Dakota

For many RVer’s that love to boondock, “The Wall” is on the top of their bucket list. It was on our bucket list too, so when we were going to go on a trip to ensure everything was working correctly, we chose the South Dakota Badlands. All other boondocking sites will pale in comparison to our first one!

What is boondocking?

Since this is the first post in our boondocking category, I want to help you understand what it means to truly boondock. Think of a campground with amenities and then boondocking is exactly the opposite. No awning-to-awning RV neighbors, swimming pool, convenience store, restrooms, picnic tables, playgrounds or electric/water/sewer hookups. Instead you live “off the grid”. When you boondock, you provide your own electric, water and sewer, you enjoy nature away from the crowds, and you save money because most areas are on public lands which are free or lower in costs. Other phrases for boondocking include dispersed camping, dry camping and wild camping. Some RVer’s add overnight stays in Walmart, Cabela’s and Cracker Barrel parking lots as boondocking, but it’s hard to believe those sites are out in nature!

Back to our journey to “The Wall”

We arrived at the Northeast Entrance to the Badlands at 4:45pm on September 10, 2018. The purchase of an America the Beautiful National Park Pass for $80 was the first thing we did. The pass will be good until September 30, 2019. Oh, the places we will go! The Badlands Loop Road (Hwy 240) is a 35-mile two-lane road that we drove on through the park. The scenic lookouts would be explored the next day after we hiked some trails. There is something about the dramatic Badlands landscapes! Layered rock formations, steep canyons and towering spires are everywhere. Bison, bighorn sheep and prairie dogs inhabit its sprawling grasslands. It feels like you are on another planet. It is an extra special place!

Options for camping in the Badlands include Cedar Pass Campground and Sage Creek Campground (primitive), but we came for “The Wall” experience. The Wall Dispersed (as it is sometimes called) is a dirt road that turns off of Hwy 240 and goes along the rim of the Badlands in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. The road runs along a ridge that drops off into the rock formations of the Badlands with a number of places to pull off and camp right on the ledge. Entrance to “The Wall” can be found one mile north of the Badlands Pinnacles Entrance or 6.4 miles south of the city of Wall, SD. When you see the cell towers, you know you are near!

Entrance to The Wall

The road is blocked with a barbed wire gate. You have to stop and move the gate, drive in and return it to its place. This is either to keep the humans inside or to keep the animals from leaving the Grasslands! Go slow because the drive up to the rim is bumpy and has many ruts from driving on it when it rained. We have a Class A motorhome and made the 1/2 mile to the top without any problems. When you get to the T in the road, you can either go right or left. We chose left and it did not disappoint! You can drive for miles in either direction. About 2 miles down the road, we found a location 15 feet from the rim. There were other Class B, trailers, and vans there too, but we all stayed about 100 yards away from one another.

When we had everything set up, we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset! Despite the relatively close highway and cell towers nearby, the ridge felt peaceful with no man-made noise and only the distant lights of the interstate at night to remind us that we were in the 21st century. In the morning, a spectacular sunrise over the Badlands showed us how beautiful this location really was. It reminded me of the sunrise on Haleakala Crater we saw in Maui, HI. It ended up very windy in the morning and we brought in the slides to ensure the RV was stable. The east winds have nothing to stop it as it goes across South Dakota! We believe the winds were about 40 miles per hour!

Badlands Hiking

We decided to take our car into the Badlands to do some hiking. For all the times we have been in the Badlands, we never hiked any of the trails. That changed when we hiked these trails:

• Door Trail – .75 miles round trip – Very easy.  After an accessible 1/4 mile boardwalk, there are numbered poles to lead you out on the trail. It was fun to navigate how to get to the next pole.
• Window Trail – .25 miles round trip – Easy. This short trail leads to a natural window in the Badlands Wall with a view of an intricately eroded canyon. 
• Notch Trail – 1.5 miles round trip. It says this trail is moderate to strenuous, but we would classify this trail as moderate. The hardest part of this trail was climbing a log ladder, but even that seemed easy. The trail meanders through a canyon and follows a ledge to “The Notch” for a dramatic view of the White River Valley.

There were a couple of additional trails we considered, but they were 4 miles (Medicine Root Loop) and 10 miles (Castle Trail) in length and it was going to be near 90 degrees later in the afternoon. Instead, we decided to be tourists and check out the visitor center and drive the scenic drive and stop and check out the lookouts. At the visitor center, we enjoyed the paleontology exhibit as it showed actual fossils found in the White River Badlands. The lookouts did not disappoint and we even saw bison, bighorn sheep and prairie dogs! All in all, we ended up being there about 5 hours.

The Wall is a Unique Place

When we got back to our site, we saw a bighorn sheep walking to our RV. We parked the car and when we got out, I looked over and saw the bighorn sheep right next to our RV. I believe the bighorn sheep actually smiled at me! Then it decided to turn and mosey along the rim. One of the reasons we boondock is to find unique places to enjoy nature. Whether you choose to boondock or not, put “The Wall” on your places to RV bucket list! It doesn’t disappoint!

Off-the-Grid Rating

• 🏕🏕🏕🏕🏕 5 out of 5 Campsites
• Location:  The Wall
• Coordinates:  43.8898 -102.227
• AT&T Cell Coverage:  3 bars
• Class A Rigs:  Yes