Hi there!
So you have decided to hike the Door Trail in Badlands National Park!
This is one of the popular hikes in Badlands National Park.
Door Trail is located in a pretty convenient location.
Because of the convenience, this is one of the easy things to do in Badlands National Park.
The Door trailhead parking is located right off of Badlands Loop Road, which is the main road through Badlands National Park.
If you have a short time in Badlands National Park, Badlands Loop Road is a requirement to drive! So, there’s a good chance you’ll pass the parking lot anyway.
You can’t miss it as you are driving. It is obvious. You will know it’s something!
The Door Trail parking lot is the same parking for the Window Trail and the Notch Trail, and it’s one of the several ways you can start the Castle Trail too.
So it will be very convenient to do the hikes of Door, Window, and Notch at the same time. You can do Castle Trail too, although that is longer than the rest of them.
Or just do the Door Trail! Or, you actually don’t even need to do any of them.
You can park in front of Door Trail as a spot to do a little walking around!
Park at the Door Trail parking lot, and then you can just freely walk around the Badlands landscape directly in front of the parking lot too!
Badlands National Park has an “open-hike” policy, and this means that unless there’s a specific sign telling you otherwise, you can walk around any of the area you see. Take care, though! The surface can be dry loose gravel which can make for slippery conditions on hills. Saddle Pass Trail is a bit of an extreme example of this since it’s quite the steep trail, but you may end up losing your footing on even seemingly simple hills.
I saw a bighorn sheep right near Door Trail. So be on the lookout! And see more spots you might see bighorn sheep in the Badlands.
More below about the getting to the Door trailhead parking!
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Driving along Badlands Loop Road to get to Door Trail
Door Trailhead is on google maps, so you can use that to help you navigate in the general direction and to know when you’re approaching it. It will be best to download offline google maps before you go (it’s free), as you may not always get data service in Badlands National Park. GPS will still generally work even if you don’t have phone service.
Ben Reifel Visitor Center to Door Trail is about a 5 minute drive. (google maps)
Northeast entrance of Badlands National Park to Door Trail is about a 5 minute drive. (google maps)
Cedar Pass campground to Door Trail is about a 5 minute drive. (google maps) This is near the Interior entrance.
Sage Creek campground to Door Trail is about a 1 hour drive if you take I-90. (google maps) It will be about a 1.5 hour drive if you drive entirely through the park along Badlands Loop Road… if you don’t stop at all! (google maps)
Basically, you will get yourself to the far eastern area of Badlands Loop Road in Badlands National Park. The Door Trail is near the Ben Reifel Visitor Center, as well as the Interior entrance and northeast entrance of Badlands National Park. This is the Cedar Pass area.
And then once you’re on Badlands Loop Road past the national park entry, it’s is more or less just about driving until you see the large parking lot directly alongside Badlands Loop Road in the Cedar Pass area!
You’ll know you’re at the Door Trail parking lot when you see a large parking lot along the side of the road.
If you want to be the closest to Door Trail, when you are facing the Badlands formations on the parking lot side, you will want to park closer to the LEFT side of the parking lot.
👆 When you are at the parking lot and facing this direction of the Badlands, the Door Trail is on the far left end of the parking lot.
There is a bathroom at the Door Trail parking lot.
So once you are ready to start hiking, as long as you are on the correct side of the parking lot, the start of the Door Trail is obvious. You’ll look for the trailhead sign.
And off you go to hike the Door Trail!
Once you get started on the trail, the views at the end of the boardwalk trail of Door Trail might be like 5 minutes away. If you decide to continue further, then the end of the trail might be around 20 minutes away from the time you start!
It’s easy to get off the trails in Badlands National Park without realizing it, so if you’re following an official trail, always look for the next trail post! Same goes for Door Trail once you leave the boardwalk!
And then you’ll come to a sign that marks the end of the trail.
After you’ve taken in the views, you can head back to the Door Trail parking lot!
And that’s a bit about how to start hiking the Door Trail!
More for Badlands trip planning:
- Best hikes in Badlands National Park
- Best campgrounds in Badlands National Park
- Things to do in Badlands National Park
- Badlands National Park to Yellowstone National Park
- Badlands National Park to Mount Rushmore
- Best places to visit in South Dakota
HAPPY DRIVING TO ENTER THE DOOR TRAIL!
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