Badlands Loop Scenic Highway Road Trip

37.9 miles: 1 hours, 5 minutes

Watch for majestic bighorn sheep climbing steep slopes as you drive this two-lane highway through Badlands National Park. Immense pinnacles, buttes and ridges flanking SR 240 continue to erode at a rate of about 1 inch per year. Amid the stark, hilly terrain of the Badlands, mixed-grass prairies support thriving communities of prairie dogs, mule deer and antelope.

37.9 miles: 1 hours, 5 minutes

Along SR 240, a number of scenic overlooks allow visitors to stop and admire the rugged beauty of Badlands National Park, which was established in 1939 as a national monument and redesignated a national park in 1978. The roadway showcases the park’s protected assets: sunset-colored layers of rock and the largest untouched mixed-grass prairie in North America.