Hi there!
So you want to hike to the “window” of the Badlands Wall!
The Window Trail is one of the popular hikes in Badlands National Park.
Window 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 Window 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 Window Trail parking lot is the same parking for the Door Trail and the Notch Trail, and it’s one of several ways you can start the Castle Trail too.
So it will be very convenient to do the hikes of Window, Door, 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 Window Trail! Or, you actually don’t even need to do any of them.
Park at the Window 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.
More below about the getting to the Window trailhead parking!
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Driving along Badlands Loop Road to get to Window Trail
Window 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 Window Trail is about a 5 minute drive. (google maps)
Northeast entrance of Badlands National Park to Window Trail is about a 5 minute drive. (google maps)
Cedar Pass campground to Window Trail is about a 5 minute drive. (google maps) This is near the Interior entrance.
Sage Creek campground to Window 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 Window 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 Window Trail parking lot when you see a large parking lot along the side of the road.
If you want to be the closest to Window Trail, when you are facing the Badlands formations on the parking lot side, you will want to park over towards the right side of the parking lot. The Notch Trail is on the far right end of the parking lot.
👆 When you are at the parking lot and facing this direction of the Badlands, the Window Trail is towards the right of the parking lot.
There is a bathroom at the Window Trail parking lot.
So once you are ready to start hiking, you can follow the sign and the start of the Window Trail is obvious. You’ll look for the trailhead sign. The trail starts directly from the parking lot.
And off you go to hike the Window Trail!
Once you get started on the trail, the views at the “window” might be less than 5 minutes away.
After you’ve taken in the views, you can head back to the Window Trail parking lot!
And that’s a bit about how to start hiking the Window 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 THE WINDOW TRAILHEAD!
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