Sage Creek Campground

Sage Creek Campground

Badlands National Park, SD

Reviewed June 11th, 2005

The scientific name for American buffalo, or bison, is Bison bison bison distinguished from its larger, Paleolithic (and now extinct) ancestors Bison antiquas and Bison occidentalis. The 3B'd bison is the kind you will see on the road to the Sage Creek Campground in the Sage Creek Wilderness of the Badlands. The 3B roams freely and copiously here. You'll see her on top of buttes, in dry washes, beneath woody ravines, in the middle of the creek, and at Club Med. They get around, these four hooved shag machines. I have to admit that they scare the crap out of me. Why? I don't know. They don't mean anybody any harm. They demand a little bit of respect, quiet and some distance but otherwise they are mellow creatures, wild, wooly grazers of the plains. In your vehicle, you can get a little closer because they think you're a similar creature but watch it! These cumbersome looking animals can turn on a dime and charge you going 120 mph for up to five miles. More like 30 mph, but still, thats darn fast if you think about it.

All the park literature I read on the internet claimed that there are no amenities, no water, no designated campsites of any kind at the Sage Creek Campground, just an outhouse and thats it. Just goes to show that at the federal level, the Department of the Interior and other agencies do a horseshit job of effectively communicating with the general public. When we got there we found a clearly developed campground with sheltered picnic tables, metal trash and recycling receptacles and outhouses at each end of the campground. The only thing it did not appear to have was running water. I thought it was a beautiful place - especially considering it is free and off the RV tourist path - and the trash, recycling and outhouses make good sanitation sense but anyone looking for a "wilderness camping experience" will not find one at the Sage Creek Campground. Wilderness junkies would be better advised to leave their car at the Sage Creek Campground and take their backpack into the outback - just be sure not to make camp on the bison trails (the only trails that exist out there). Ouch!

The outhouses here were great. So were the shadows thrown by the sun on the northern cutbank of Sage Creek, the sagebrush and wild rose in bloom beside it and the "Aggressive Bison Warning Signs" sign. Plenty of sanitizer. No poop smell. No access to the "drive through" hordes. A correlation? Maybe.

The six or seven mile dirt road that leads from near the Pinnacles Entrance to Sage Creek Campground is very, very nicely graded and lacks the steep drop offs and (most) of the hairpin turns found all over the main, paved park road. Along the way you will find angus cows, a huge wild prairie dog town (think New York for prairie dogs) and some prime overlooks. This section of the park is subtle, with rolling hills more characteristic than the starkly eroded pinnacles, hoodoos, wobblies, and walla walla's found elsewhere (okay I made up the last two) but this area stands on its own. It is quieter, more directly accessible even without trails and teeming with wildlife. The cows are a little skittish but when they gathered to watch me walk across the cow proof cross guard, they looked at me like I was a miracle worker. That might have been worth everything.

- Justin Teerlinck

RESTROOM RATING: 8
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