Stop Five - The Badlands, and the Badlands/White River KOA

It’s about 90 minutes to the Badlands from Custer’s Fort Welikit Campground. We left Custer as they were on the verge of kicking off a parade that would have delayed our departure. Fortunately we got out-of-town in a nick of time.

The drive from Custer to the Badlands is beautiful until you get on the Interstate 90, then it is less so. The nice thing we noticed from our last trip is that it seems easier to get around Rapid City and onto the highway. Previous trips had us route through some city streets, but now it was a much more direct route and you could see there had been quite a bit of new road construction.

Through the badlands on the way to camp.

We entered the Badlands National Park and got the opportunity to drive through most of it before we entered the Badlands/White River KOA. The pass cost is $20.00 but it is good for 7 days. There are plenty of spots where you can pull over, even with a rig that’s 35 feet long, and take some pictures. The drive is nice with decent roads, and this is scenery you will never see anywhere else. About five miles from the main road through the badlands is the KOA.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we would not recommend many of the KOA’s that we have stayed at but this one is really great. We used to stay at this KOA when it was just a flat open field, has it ever changed! The wonderful thing is that even though it has changed, it has changed for the better. The sites are nicely spaced, the grounds are maintained beautifully, the staff goes out of their way to make you happy, it’s quiet, and you can buy food there (breakfast and dinner). If there were full timers there you wouldn’t know it because everything is neat and clean. This is what all KOA’s should strive to be. For more information on the Badlands KOA click here.

Our spot at the Badlands/White River KOA

Now for something amazing…On a walk through the campground with Tammy we stumbled onto a Jayco JayWren, the same year and model we had back in 1990. I was hoping that the owners would be outside so we could talk but I never ran into them while we were there. I just had to take a picture of this “survivor”, how many of these could even still be around? Amazing!

The Jayco Jaywren – What a pleasant surprise to see this!

Now if you camp here, don’t expect to see the badlands from your travel trailer. You are far enough down the road that you will only see some rock out cropping’s. Don’t think of this as a negative since you are only five minutes away from seeing the badlands up close and personal. You should plan on spending at least a half day in the park taking in all the amazing views and hiking some trails. This is an amazing place.

The Vast Badlands Scenery

The Badlands

This is where I had made my fatal flaw, I should have booked at least one more day here; that way Tammy and I could have taken more time to go through the Badlands and stop at Wall Drug. Wall Drug is a real touristy sort of town, but still worth seeing. This time, however, it was just an overnight stop on our way to the wedding. There is no doubt in my mind that we will be back sometime in the future and extend our stay.

We took advantage of the KOAs dinner service which consists of ordering and paying at the office. Then you walk around the corner to their “cook shack”. You give them the ticket, and wait for it to be cooked. We each had a pulled pork BBQ sandwich and they were great. The next morning we had their breakfast as well and it was just as good as their dinner had been. After breakfast it was time to pack up and hit the road.

The next stop would be Jackson Minnesota, another one night stop along the way; but not before I got one final picture leaving the Badlands.