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 Sheep Mountain Table Overlook
Why stop
- Wide views across layered Badlands formations
- A quiet, remote-feeling stop
Heads up
- The rough gravel approach calls for careful vehicle and weather planning
Map
Where it is
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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 Sheep Mountain Table 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
Sheep Mountain Table Overlook0:00 / 0:30
“You're approaching Sheep Mountain Table Overlook, a pullout on the park's highest tableland. Stop here for a broad view over the pale ridges and gullies; you don't need to hike for the main panorama.”
Plays as you drive up to Sheep Mountain Table Overlook in the Parkwolf Badlands Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
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- 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 Sheep Mountain Table Overlook
A remote tableland overlookSheep Mountain Table Overlook is a roadside pullout on the high tableland near the boundary of…
Sheep Mountain Table Overlook is a roadside pullout on the high tableland near the boundary of the park’s North and South Units, with broad views across the upper half of the Badlands formations. It is reached by a five-mile gravel climb from South Dakota Highway 27. Visitors often describe the stop as quiet and remote; allow one to three hours for the drive and a look around.
Plan for the roadThe turnoff is on the west side of Highway 27, about 4.5 miles south of Highway 44 at Scenic.
The turnoff is on the west side of Highway 27, about 4.5 miles south of Highway 44 at Scenic. The road is rough and rocky. Four-wheel drive is recommended even when it is dry, and the road should not be driven during or after storms. Some visitors report making it to the overlook in ordinary cars on dry days, but that is not a reliable measure of conditions. The road is not maintained in winter and may close with weather, so check conditions before setting out.
Beyond the overlook, the road continues another 2.5 miles to a dead end. Only high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicles should drive that stretch; you can walk it instead. The broad view is already at the overlook, so there is no need to take the rougher continuation for the main scenery.
Frame the rim and ridgesThe view opens from a grass-topped rim across layered, deeply eroded formations.
The view opens from a grass-topped rim across layered, deeply eroded formations. A wide frame that keeps the rim in the foreground shows the drop as well as the ridges beyond it. The pullout itself is the scenic stop; the best-known view does not require a walk from the parking area.
High ground with a working landscapeSheep Mountain Table is the park’s highest area.
Sheep Mountain Table is the park’s highest area. An agreement with the Oglala Lakota Nation keeps park lands accessible to tribal ranchers on the Pine Ridge Reservation, so horses or cattle may be seen on the table. It is park scenery and working ranch country at the same time.
Keep the stop self-containedThe overlook has auto parking and a scenic viewpoint.
The overlook has auto parking and a scenic viewpoint. Food, drinking water and restrooms are not identified at the pullout, so do not count on services during this remote drive. The parking area has room to turn around, though maneuvering a trailer behind an RV can be difficult.
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.
