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Start at 1. Big Badlands Overlook

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Free audio tour9 stories

Badlands Loop Road, South Dakota

The paved road through the North Unit that almost every visitor drives, west from the Northeast Entrance to Pinnacles Overlook. An ancient sea floor, the richest fossil beds of their age, the road to Wounded Knee, homesteaders who sold out in the Dust Bowl years, and the bison and bighorn that came back.

29 min of audio · 26 miles · Read the transcript

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    Getting started

    1. Start in the right placeThis tour begins at Big Badlands Overlook. Start while parked; the first story plays when you arrive.
    2. Let's hear itSelect this phone as the car's Bluetooth audio source and set a comfortable volume. Download the tour while you still have signal.
    3. Stories meet you thereYour phone's location starts each story automatically. Music flows straight into the narration. Keep this page open; it keeps the screen awake for GPS.
    4. You're ready to exploreEnter the park at the Northeast Entrance (I-90 exit 131, about three miles south of the interstate) and park at Big Badlands Overlook, the first overlook inside, then press Start. Download the tour before you arrive in case you lose signal. The tour follows the paved Badlands Loop Road (Highway 240) west to Pinnacles Overlook, near the Pinnacles Entrance and Wall (I-90 exit 110). The park is open 24 hours, all year; the road can be icy and occasionally closes in winter storms (park line 605-433-5361). Entrance fee: $30 per private vehicle for 7 days, card only. The park warns not to rely on phone or car GPS to find the park itself: follow the I-90 exit signs.

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    Connect your Tesla account, then approve Plantrip in the Tesla app. Start sends the whole tour to the car's navigation while you're parked; narration plays from this phone through the car.

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    Facts from Badlands National Park (NPS) overlook, trail, visitor center, geology, history and fees pages, the park's Foundation Document, NPS Park Paleontology News (2019), the park's Big Pig Dig brochure, the 1968 History of Badlands National Monument (Mattison and Grom, Badlands Natural History Association) and the 2006 NPS Historic Resource Study. Music: Schubert, Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major, D. 959, II. Andantino, Paul Pitman, Musopen (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). Narration is AI-generated. Not an official National Park Service product.