Cedar Pass Campground

I absolutely loved my stay at Cedar Pass Campground! The location is unbeatable, right in the heart of Badlands National Park, with jaw-dropping views of the rock formations from every campsite. Waking up to a pink and gold sunrise over the buttes was pure magic. The campground itself is clean and well-maintained. The restrooms and showers were spotless, and it was great to have access to potable water and picnic tables at each site. It’s peaceful at night too, just the sound of the wind and the occasional coyote in the distance. The close proximity to Cedar Pass Lodge is a bonus, where you can grab a meal or souvenirs if you need a break from camp cooking. The staff were friendly and super helpful! If you love scenic views, stargazing, and a peaceful camping experience with just the right mix of comfort and wilderness, this place is perfect. I can’t wait to come back!

One of our absolute favorites! The scenery is incredible! A few things to note: these are not full hook up sites, only electric. There are pay showers (like $2 for 8 minutes), the showers aren’t the cleanest and do get cold, they also don’t have adequate hooks for hanging clothes. No laundry facilities. But, we keep coming back, as we love the location.

Can't beat the stay for the price. Even in September there is still a lot of traffic through this campground. Part of the reason for the rating is the coin op showers and the restrooms were not cleaned daily. However, it is amazing to wake up to some of the most beautiful rock formations you will find anywhere. This campground is great for seeing both sunrise and sunset. The camp hosts were amazing and very knowledgeable.

I have stayed here twice in two years and both times has been a very pleasant experience. You really can't beat the sunset here. You also have a good view no matter where you are though I would recommend the outer loops for better viewing. Even though this campground is not private, it feels private anyway. Even when full it has been very quiet and relaxing. I enjoyed going to the talks at the amphitheater at night and when it's not cloudy, the stars are amazing. The restrooms are clean, pay shower takes quarters and is cold, but it's nice. There is a free dish washing station and they have plenty of recycling and trash bins. Every site has a covered picnic table. I will say, the storms can be wicked here as I got caught in one last year which broke a tent pole and I had to hunker down in my car. But, this is a great campground. It's easy to take a walk around from here too.

I'll be honest, the scenery is 10/10, the vibes are good, the people were nice, but... The campsites are right on top of one another and for seemingly no reason considering there was a ton of space around the campground. The bathroom was hands down, without a doubt, the worst camp bathroom I've ever encountered. The showers took 4 dollars from me and I could only get one to work partially for a couple minutes. The smell, oh God the smell 🤢 Well anyways, I'll be staying outside the park next time. Badlands are amazing otherwise!

We LOVED this campground while staying in the Badlands and traveling in our camper. It is inside of the park near the visitor center and they have free presentations and stargazing at their amphitheater on the campgrounds. Power and water hookups, with dump station on site.

You got to love the national parks and their campgrounds. Every campsite has a view of the Badlands. Walking distance to the amphitheater with nightly talks by the rangers in season. Some sites have electric. No campfires due to possible fire hazard to surrounding area. And the showers are pay per minute, but considering the water resource constraints, this is understandable.

Love the surrounding area! Just beautiful! But the bathrooms are not good. Perpetually wet floors which make them a bit slippery. The commodes and sinks were very clean at least but there was an odor. Showers are coin operated which was a first for me to see. They looked clean but there were no doors for privacy just the shower curtain that divided the shower stall. I passed on the showers here. Wondered if the outlets worked. The outside water fountain was not operable-must have been this way for a while because there was a bird nest in it. The kids did enjoy the open flat area and they played ball there. The songbirds are really amazing here too! Visitors Center is just down the road. The hiking is amazing. We did the notch trail with 5 little ones aged 8 weeks {he was in a carrier} to 8 years and it was fun.

We stayed here in early May and overall had a pretty good experience. We booked several months in advance so we didn't have any problems getting in. We reserved four nights, realizing that we probably weren't going to come in until late the next morning, technically. We let the campground know ahead of time, hoping that would make our arrival go smoothly. They let us know that they'd put that information in our reservation. Something that is irritating is that you don't know your campsite assignment until you get there. We got in at about 5:30AM and while they had a box with the info for late arrivals, ours was somehow not there. We were exhausted, so we picked an open site and set up camp. Once the "office" opened at about 9AM, we asked if we could stay at that site and they said that we had to move to a different one. This could have been avoided if we were allowed to know our site beforehand or if they had actually had put our info in the after hours arrival box. This wasn't a huge deal, but it would have sucked if the campsite was busier and the had to wait to set up camp even though we paid for the night before. As many people have said, there is no privacy. This was fine for us, the campsites are decently spaced out so you aren't on top of other people. There is a nice little roof on top of the picnic table that blocks some of the sun when it's quite bright. There are no trees, so it gets very windy. Campfires aren't allowed, so you need to bring a camping stove if you want warm food. There is a nice spot designated for washing dishes and there is warm water. For whatever reason, the drinking fountains were not working, so we had to pull from the dish washing water. There are bathrooms with running water but one of the female stalls was out of order during our stay and the ground was flooded. We made it work, but you had to be careful to not get your feet wet. There are also coin operated showers and that building is nicely heated. It cost about $1.25 for a ten minute shower, which is very reasonable. The water was more on the lukewarm side, but nevertheless nice after a long day of hiking. We didn't go inside, but there was also a café and gift shop very close. The campground is in the heart of the Badlands and all of the amazing trails are very close driving distance. You are also about 30 minutes away from Wall if you need to hide from the weather. Custer State Park and Rapid City are a couple hours away, but we took a day to visit. If I wanted to set up shop in the Badlands again, I'd stay here again.

We stayed here for three nights. Our campsite had a great view of the Badlands and was spacious. There's not a ton of privacy since there aren't any trees but the sites aren't terribly close together. Ground fires are prohibited. It was insanely windy which obviously doesn't reflect on the campground but just an FYI, it was challenging to setup in the wind and we couldn't cook outside. We made a reservation ahead of time but you are not assigned a site when you book. We have a pop-up camper which made it difficult because most of the sites had logs in the ground around them so that you either had to walk in with a tent or park the camper on the street. The staff was very friendly but there seems to be a lot of miscommunication. The bathrooms were just okay, not super clean but not awful as far as campground bathrooms go. The showers are pay showers with a quarter machine outside. Only one out of the four women's showers was functional. They were pretty dirty and the water was ice cold. One of the worst campground showers I've ever taken. The Cedar Pass gift shop was nice and the bathrooms in there were better.

Our tent site had the perfect view. Sadly while we were there it was incredibly windy and dusty so it was hard to really enjoy being at the campsite but it was the perfect base camp for exploring. We attended the night programs and did a lot of stargazing while we were there too.

These campgrounds had nice views and great amenities and convenience to all the hiking trails, but very different than camping in Minnesota where I'm from! PROS: - Bathrooms were a huge plus. Had 3 stalls, running water, flush toilets, multiple sinks, lights, & plugins. - Had multiple drinking water pumps throughout the camp to refill all your containers. - Each campsite had a picnic bench w/ built-in shade covering. - You can see the Badlands so great views from the site. CONS: - There are no trees & you're out in the open, so you can see everyone's campsite around you...and they can see you - They allow RVs in the same campsite as us regular tent-ers so they ruined some of the views. - No campfires were allowed so can't have a classic camping experience here. TIPS: - Bring a tarp to give you more shade & protection from the rain & wind. The picnic table covering wouldn't of been enough for my group. - Book site early for the best spots on the edge facining the Badlands. - Bring a gas grill to cook on since no campfires are allowed. - Weather changes constantly. Dont leave tent flaps open even if it's sunny, since it could rain while you're out hiking...not speaking from experience or anything. This campsite was overall a good option for my group here to do all the Badlands hiking trails, which we did but you'll have to see my review of Badlands National Park for more tips on that!

After making a reservation three months in advance, they notified me that there was a glitch in the reservation system and they only have sites with no amenities. No electricity and very hot at that time. That did not work. There is no contact place to make a complaint. I traveled to many National Parks and never had this problem or at least a system that could make it easy to talk with someone. Skip this park and best to just travel thru the park, go to the gift store, and continue on to your next destination.

We visited the Badlands in early spring. The campgrounds were clean and felt safe. The campground does not have any trees so privacy is non existent. The privacy didn't bother us that much because there weren't many people there. It's likely a different story in the summer months. What did bother us was the intense winds. Every afternoon/evening the winds were so strong we couldn't cook or sit outside. Everything would blow away immediately. There's only small canopies above the benches to block the wind and it didn't work very well. Be prepared for no campfires. We brought a portable propane grill to cook instead. We had to cook huddled behind our car to block the winds and keep the grill lit.

I have question,is it allowed to put up a tent on top of the rocks or mountain? We are planning to got to badland and im thingking if we can camp in a different spot which is over looking of the rock formations..but if its not its ok

We stayed here over Labor Day weekend this year and it was a nicely convenient campground. We had been hiking all day in the badlands and it was nice to have the campground so close and easy to find. I reserved the campground a few weeks before online and it was pretty easy. The campground was 18.00 which was pretty affordable. You have to pay the 10.00 park fee as well to get into The Badlands National Park. The campground itself has a pretty view of the initial hills you see when you first enter the park. It is also very easy to find as it's only a minute or two from the park entrance. The campground had a place to back into a picnic table at each site, and a small area with a shelter for a tent. The facilities included water faucets, bathrooms with flushing toilets, and pay showers (.25 for 4 mins). The facilities weren't bad and were relatively maintained. One big let down was that they still advertise on the website that they have nightly astronomy courses in the nearby amphitheater and we found out when we got there that they had been canceled a while back due to lack of interest. Was looking forward to that! Overall, not a bad campground and not a bad price. Convenient location if you're planning any hiking in the nearby areas.

Decent campground, no frills but they do have showers, covered picnic tables and outstanding views. Not too close to other campers. I recommend reserving in advanced. I booked about a week ahead of time for the beginning of June. Camp site 5 was a great choice for views and relative proximity to everything you will need without being too close to toilets flushing

I thought this was a fine campground! We stayed in site 18, which was near the back. The whole campsite had beautiful views! I thought being on the outer loop was nice because it felt a little quieter. Each site has a table with a shade roof that is angled so that it's shady for almost all of the afternoon. Location inside the park was very convenient, and it's nice to be able to reserve in advance. You can make reservations on the Cedar Pass website at least 72 hours in advance of your trip. The campsite was full for several of the nights we were there (in mid-June) so reserve if you can! Prices are currently $22/night for no hookups (what we did) and I believe $37/night for hookups, plus the fee ($15/week) to enter the park. There is one outlet in the bathroom if you're desperate and need to charge your camera battery! It's VERY WINDY so make sure to bring good stakes and strong tent poles! Because of the wind and the dryness, campfires are not allowed, but camp stoves are fine. The bathrooms were fine. There were hooks outside the shower stalls (some previous reviews said there were no hooks) but anything inside the stalls will get wet. The showers are 25 cents for 2 minutes with a minimum of 4 minutes to start. I believe the water is not temperature regulated. It was very hot when I took the shower which was a little unpleasant, as it was very hot outside. So probably cold showers in cold weather, hot showers in hot weather. There are spigots with drinking water spaced around the camp, that water was much cooler. Pets are allowed in camp (but not on trails in the park).

This is a very nice campground and very clean, not a piece of litter in site. It is easy to eat here and very easy to find your camp site. The only thing I had a problem with is that there were many vehicles with their headlights on which makes it very difficult to sleep!

Don't even reserve a site. Well, I expected more from a national park charging over $35 a night ---we got a parking spot and one covered picnic table. we ended choosing to not stay the night and just left to find a better place. No shade. No character. Totally over priced. We saw enough of view during our drive and hikes - didn't need it on a 90 degree day at a campground

We stayed here for two nights in early July. We loved it. We picked a site near the back of the campground (on the Butte Loop) for our tent and had a wonderful view of some rock formations in the distance. It's unfortunate that fires aren't allowed, but totally understandable. It's very flat and windy! We enjoyed our evenings anyway by playing games on the picnic table with light from lanterns. I want to clarify something about reservations. Cedar Pass Campground didn't always accept reservations, but they do now. Go to the Cedar Pass Lodge website and you can do it from there. When we first planned the trip, reservations weren't accepted. I'm glad I checked back and was able to make reservations because by the time we arrived, it was all booked up. This is a very busy campground. Because we were in a site in the back of a loop, it felt peaceful but whenever we ventured out to the restrooms, it just felt more hectic with all of the RVs running. This is very much more an RV campground than a tent campground. We were thrilled to find flush toilets and showers. The showers are pay showers and accept quarters. A few quarters did the trick. It's so nice to wash up after spending a day outside! There was never a line for the showers while I was there. It is important to know that there is no shade in this campground. Each campsite has a picnic table under an awning which was so helpful. Plan your day accordingly knowing there isn't much protection from the sun. The location of this campground is perfect. It's along the Badlands loop drive and close enough to Wall and Interior so a few amenities are readily available. There is also a camp store and restaurant that are part of Cedar Pass Lodge. The restaurant was good (especially for breakfast the last day!) and the camp store has ice and a few supplies and some basic convenient store-type groceries (including ice pops and ice cream!) We did a lot of driving through the Badlands - including a drive to the South Unit visitors center which is on Pine Ridge Reservation - and a few hikes. We especially enjoyed the Notch Trail with its huge ladder. The best part was the view at the end of the trail - you get to see the campground in the distance which just puts it all into perspective. We will be back.

I want to give this place 3 stars just because you can't have fires. But the view is so incredible, it cancels that part out. Stayed here on a 4000 mile Rd trip along I-90 during the first week of Oct. Theres not much open, we actually managed to find the Horseshoe bar to get a pack of beer, but other than that, the closest place you'll find for drinks/food is in WALL. Very quiet, and very windy. But if your looking to really get out and sleep in some beauty, this is the place. There's also Sage creek off the Wall exit which is free. Cedar Pass is $16 per night w/o electric, $28 w/ electric.

The campsite itself was nice and a great place for campers to go, but the management is terrible. We had booked a campground and when we arrived, the campground we reserved was flooded. The campground was completely full, and when we called to see if we could refund our stay, the lady told us no, and that they could have moved us to a vacant campground...

The positive is that every site on this campground has an amazing view. Site 86 in the tent area sits a little higher than the rest, allowing a better overlook. When we arrived, the site we had reserved (81) was flooded, fortunately we arrived before the campground filled and were able to transfer to a different site. There had been a lot of rain, which combined with the low ground and poor lawn maintenance made that site a marsh. Most of the site was already overgrown because they obviously hadn't been able to mow it in months due to the water build up. Transfer was easy though, so problem solved. The showers are pay showers and are not heated. In fact, I thought they might actually refrigerate the water because it was so cold. This was definitely the low point of the campground. Also, one of the stalls was missing a curtain, and there is no place to put your clothes out of the way of the water. Everything you take in with you will get soaked. No campfires allowed here, which given the wind and typical dryness is smart. The rates are typical, and if the attendant or host are unavailable, which was the case when we arrived, you can go to the Cedar Pass lodge for issues.

My husband and I were VERY disappointed with the facilities at this campground. For ex., the shower houses do not have so much as a hook, a simple HOOK!!!, or rack or shelf, to hang your towel and bath supplies from , or a waste basket. This seemed to us to be downright discourteous to us , as campers within the Nat'l park system. The Badlands need to re consider their affiliation with the company who runs this concession.

This was a great, low-key campground. We arrived late and the instructions were great so we knew where to go. We were at site #51. We quickly put up our tent because we thought a storm was coming. It was REALLY windy so we used our two man tent. We enjoyed star gazing as the sky seemed to go on forever out here. We enjoyed this campground because we were right in the middle of the park - away from the busy interstate. We did find that the campground was an early riser. People were up and at it really early and didn't seem to care if others weren't. Right about the same time the sun started shining in our tent and it got HOT! so we were fine with getting up too. We ended up only staying one of our two nights because we had a ten hour drive we decided to go ahead and knock out. Over all this was a great campground. We'd stay again if we find ourselves in the Badlands again.

The Badlands is one of my favorite national parks but comparing this camp ground to other park campgrounds this park is below average. If you don't need electric the price is comparable to other parks but if you want electric it's on the pricey side at almost $40 a night. This is my third time camping here and all three times I've come in without a reservation and have been able to get a site, but if you want to make sure you have electric I would recommend making a reservation. There are no fires allowed so if you are wanting to cook at your site you will have to bring a grill or hot plate for cooking. This year I came in on a Sunday in late September and walk-ins are handled by the campground host. Since this is at the end of the season it's reasonable that there is not someone manning the check-in booth all day but there were several signs noting to not set up on a site till the host is in the booth at 12:30pm. Myself and several other people were in line at 12:30 to get our site but an hour went by and no one showed up at the booth. We ended up going to host site, site 11, and he said no one worked the weekends and that no one would be coming to the booth. His response and attitude was frustrating since they marked in several locations to not set up without checking in with the host and no where did it say the hosts did not work on the weekends. Make sure to bring either a check or cash if you are expected to self register since the totals are not an even amount, it's like $39.23 for one night and if you self register you cannot use a card or get change back.

Camped there at the beginning of August and really enjoyed it. It was very windy when setting up our tent and again when a 2 am thunderstorm rolled through, but we put some extra guylines on the tent and were just fine. Bathrooms were clean. There were some flying bugs that attempted a bathroom takeover around midnight, but most were dead or gone in the morning (minus a few that staked out their position in the sink, drowned, and were now deceased. They were easily removed with a wad of toilet paper). Really enjoyed the evening program in the amphitheater and that the entire park is part of the night sky program. Views of the sky were good considering all the smoke that had blown in from fires further west. Campground was quiet; there were more tent campers than RVs when we were there which might have helped. I second the recommendation to bring a tarp to tie to the front of the picnic shelter to help with morning sun. Just be sure to lower it when you leave or make sure it's tied really, really well. The thunderstorm that came through overnight ripped the stakes out of the ground (it was tied to the top of the shelter so it didn't blow away). Great stay in site 12. Do look for spots in advance. We looked at the last minute and through obsessive checking managed to nab a spot when it opened up, but that was nothing more than sheer luck. Next time I'll plan ahead more.