Thanksgiving looked a lot different this year for most everyone, including us. That’s why we decided to pack up the truck camper and take our first cross-country journey to see Will’s family for the holiday. We weren’t comfortable flying for fear of taking the coronavirus to his parents, plus the prospect of seeing part of the country was exciting.
Part of what drew us to choosing a truck camper over any other type of RV or camper was being able to go off-road. So, when we plotted our route into RV Trip Wizard and realized we would drive right by the Badlands, we plugged it into our route. We had actually placed the Badlands on our bucket list months earlier after seeing a YouTube video about the top 25 places to boondock in the U.S. We never expected we would make it there so soon in our truck camper life. And we tried not to get our hopes up. By that, I mean we weren’t sure what the weather would be like Thanksgiving week—would the roads be closed due to snow? Would it be too cold to boondock?
Weather for the entire 2,000 mile-journey from Georgia to Montana ended up being fairly warm for the last week of November, with highs averaging in the 40s. We knew we’d be able to make that dream stop at Nomad View Dispersed Camping just outside of Badlands National Park. We hopped in the car after work on Thursday, drove 13 hours, and stopped somewhere between St. Louis and Kansas City, MO, for what amounted to about an hour and a half nap. We had planned to stop at a Cracker Barrell for our first Boonbarrell experience. However, when we got closer, we saw conflicting reviews in Campendium and RV Parky about whether overnight stay was allowed. It was midnight, so we drove another few hours and then napped at a rest area.
The next day—Friday—we accidentally drove 16 hours right to the campsite. We had initially planned to arrive at the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands on Saturday afternoon. By the time we reached where we had planned to stop for the night, we realized it was only three more hours to the grasslands, so we kept going.
We turned off I-90 West and went south on SD 244. You can find it off SD 244 whether you’re driving north or south. We had GPS coordinates and a tip to look for tall cell towers and dirt road #7170. We had not expected it to be so easy to find, considering it was 11 p.m., and we had basically been awake for almost 40 hours. But we drove right to it. All of the reviews we read online mentioned a cattle gate and the importance of closing it behind you, but as of November 2020, this has been replaced with a cattle guard. Everything we read online mentioned that the dirt road could be quite rough, making it difficult to find a spot, especially after rain. We found the road full of holes and ruts, but it was otherwise easy to navigate, even in the dark.
We followed the road to the right, and after a little bit (okay, a lot) of nervous cries from me asking Will not to get so close to the edge, we parked for the night. It was freezing and windy, and the stars were incredibly clear and bright. Many reviews mention the wind, and I was sure we were going to be blown off the edge of the cliff while we slept. I kept waking up to the sound of wind whirling around our camper, but Will assured me we weren’t going to die. HA!
It was well worth the (unnecessary) anxiety when we woke up to the most beautiful sunrise overlooking Badlands National Park. It was 24 degrees and felt like 19, but we stood in awe and spent time taking it all in despite the cold.
After the sunrise, we left the campsite and turned south on SD 244 to enter Badlands National Park at the Pinnacles Entrance. We paid the park entrance fee to take the 30-mile Badlands Loop. It was early morning, and we basically had the park to ourselves. We stopped at a few overlooks and enjoyed the utter quiet of nature’s beauty. We saw Bighorn Sheep, buffalo, and prairie dogs. Speaking of prairie dogs, we stopped at the Ranch Store on our way out of the Loop. You can read about all of our kitschy stops from the trip in this post.
After taking the Loop, we were an entire day ahead of schedule. So, we researched the drive to Mt. Rushmore but were confused about whether we could get there in our truck camper, so instead, we visited Devil’s Tower on the way to Montana. After leaving there, we narrowly missed a few deer who tried to run in front of our truck, so be careful if you visit the area. We also saw lots of antelope along the drive from Devil’s Tower to Montana.
After Devil’s Tower, we spent a lovely, lazy week with Will’s family watching Westerns and eating too much, and then headed back home to Georgia. We loved Badlands National Park so much we stopped again on our way home, this time for the sunset. But first, we drove back to the boondocking site, where Will was met with more anxious cries from me asking him to stay away from the edge.
We’ll definitely be back to see the Black Hills region and all it has to offer. Have you been to Badlands National Park or Mt. Rushmore? Do you have any tips to share?
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Nomad View Dispersed Camping on Campendium
View more photos in our South Dakota highlights on Instagram.
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