Badlands National Park at Night: What to Expect After Dark

Badlands National Park stays open around the clock, and night is when it becomes a different park entirely: temperatures drop fast, the formations turn to silver silhouettes, coyotes call across the prairie, and overhead — in South Dakota’s first certified International Dark Sky Park — more than 7,500 stars come out under Bortle Class 2 […]

Milky Way Photography in Badlands National Park — A Practical Guide

Badlands National Park is one of the best places in the United States to photograph the Milky Way: a certified International Dark Sky Park with Bortle Class 2 skies, more than 7,500 visible stars on a clear night, and jagged rock formations that give your night shots a foreground almost no other dark-sky location can […]

The Best Stargazing Spots in Badlands National Park — A Dark Sky Park Guide

The best stargazing spots in Badlands National Park are the overlooks along the Badlands Wall and the remote stretches of Sage Creek Rim Road — places far from the visitor center and campground lighting, where the park’s Bortle Class 2 skies reveal more than 7,500 stars on a clear night. Since July 17, 2026, the […]

Badlands National Park Is Now an International Dark Sky Park — What It Means for Stargazers

Badlands National Park was officially certified as an International Dark Sky Park by DarkSky International on July 17, 2026 — the first and only park in South Dakota to earn the designation, and one of roughly 40 National Park Service sites in the country recognized for protecting truly dark night skies. The certification was announced […]