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 Homestead Overlook
Why stop
- Wide view from eroded ridges across the prairie
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 Homestead 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
Homestead Overlook0:00 / 0:29
“You're nearing Homestead Overlook, where a short accessible walkway opens onto the White River Valley and prairie. Stop for the homesteading exhibits as well as the view.”
Plays as you drive up to Homestead Overlook in the Parkwolf Badlands Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Quinn Road Prairie Dog Town
- Conata Basin's Ferret Comeback
- When Horses Had Three Toes
- Conata Picnic Area and Deer Haven
- 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 Homestead Overlook
A short stop with a wide viewHomestead Overlook is a roadside viewpoint on the Badlands Loop Road.
Homestead Overlook is a roadside viewpoint on the Badlands Loop Road. From its rim, eroded ridges run across the White River Valley toward open prairie, so you see the park’s badlands and grasslands meet in one look. It’s an easy stop to fit into the drive; make time if you want both the landscape and a little history, not a long walk.
Take the walkway outA short accessible walkway leads to the viewing area, with parking for cars, buses and RVs.
A short accessible walkway leads to the viewing area, with parking for cars, buses and RVs. The exhibits here cover homesteading and ranching, so pause at the panel before heading back to the road.
Look beyond the ridgesVisitors sometimes report bighorn sheep on the slopes, so give the ridgelines a scan while…
Visitors sometimes report bighorn sheep on the slopes, so give the ridgelines a scan while you’re here. For a photo, frame the jagged formations with the prairie beyond them; that contrast is what makes this stop distinct. Late light can bring out warmer colors in the rock, though it depends on conditions.
What homesteading meantThe panels explain the 1862 Homestead Act, signed by Abraham Lincoln.
The panels explain the 1862 Homestead Act, signed by Abraham Lincoln. A citizen could claim 160 acres by living on and improving the land for at least five years, then filing for a deed within seven. The land wasn’t truly free: U.S. expansion took Native land across the Great Plains, including through policies such as the Dawes Act. The view carries both sides of that history: the settlers who tried to make a life here and the people displaced by that settlement.
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.
