1 active Badlands alert
- ClosureNotch Trail closed for ladder repairsNotch Trail and all areas within 100 feet of the designated trail are closed; do not enter the closure area.Official details
Overview
About Burns Basin Overlook
Why stop
- A short boardwalk, bench and homestead story make this more than a passing view.
Heads up
- It is a brief roadside stop with no substantial walk.
Map
Where it is
Loading the Badlands map
Full mapPlan your stop
Before you go
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Badlands Tour Guide
Your drive to Burns Basin Overlook, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Badlands National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Badlands audio tourRecorded for this place
Burns Basin Overlook0:00 / 0:28
“Burns Basin Overlook is coming up, with a very short boardwalk to a bench above the basin. Stop here if you'd enjoy a little human history alongside the view.”
Plays as you drive up to Burns Basin Overlook in the Parkwolf Badlands Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Quinn Road Prairie Dog Town
- The Singer on the Fence Post
- Homestead Overlook
- Prairie Wind Overlook
- 116 audio storiesacross Badlands’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Bison, Bighorn Sheep, Prairie Dog, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 11 trails, 34 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“We recently toured Badlands, Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore and more! We learned so much from this app as we toured each of these sites. The audio tours are worth the money.”
Guide
More about Burns Basin Overlook
A quick roadside stopBurns Basin Overlook is a roadside viewpoint on the paved Badlands Loop Road, looking across…
Burns Basin Overlook is a roadside viewpoint on the paved Badlands Loop Road, looking across the color-banded formations and into the basin where Wilson Burns ran a sheep homestead. A very short boardwalk leads to one bench at the view, with parking for cars and buses or RVs. It is a quick break in the scenic drive, not a hike.
Look across the basinFrom the bench, pale, red and gray bands cut the surrounding ridges into narrow gullies, with…
From the bench, pale, red and gray bands cut the surrounding ridges into narrow gullies, with the basin beyond. The boardwalk and bench make a useful foreground for a photo that shows both the viewpoint and the landscape; a wide frame catches the bands running across the hills.
The sheep homestead behind the nameWilson Burns raised sheep in the basin in the early 20th century, and his homestead gave the…
Wilson Burns raised sheep in the basin in the early 20th century, and his homestead gave the overlook its name. A rare freshwater spring helped keep the operation going. Water is still difficult to reach here: wells in the area must be dug a few thousand feet deep. The view carries that working-landscape story alongside the eroded formations.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Badlands
760 sightingsBisonMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
1,061 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
906 sightingsPrairie DogMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
333 sightingsPronghornMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
304 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
87 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Badlands. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
