Parking
Use the Fossil Exhibit Trailhead parking area on SD-240. It serves cars and buses or RVs and has a restroom; the boardwalk starts beside the lot.
Overview
About Fossil Exhibit Trail
Why go
- Tactile and Braille fossil interpretation on a fully accessible boardwalk
- A short stop pairs the exhibits with close views of the formations
Heads up
- Very short, with fossil replicas rather than exposed fossils
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Badlands map
Full mapElevation2,664–2,677 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
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
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Badlands Tour Guide
Your drive to Fossil Exhibit Trail, 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 trailhead
Fossil Exhibit Trail0:00 / 0:22
“Up ahead is Fossil Exhibit Trail, an accessible boardwalk loop with fossil replicas you can touch.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Badlands Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Toadstool Rock
- The Horn That Sheds Its Cover
- Kylie's Saber-Tooth Discovery
- Saddle Pass Trailhead
- 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.”
Trail guide
Hiking Fossil Exhibit Trail
A quick interpretive loopFossil Exhibit Trail is a fully accessible boardwalk loop beside SD-240.
Fossil Exhibit Trail is a fully accessible boardwalk loop beside SD-240. The current park figure is 0.34 miles round trip, about 20 minutes. Published lengths vary from roughly a quarter mile to 0.4 mile, and the mapped loop is shorter, so treat the mileage as approximate. It suits a quick stop for fossil displays and a close look at the pale formations, not a rugged hike.
Fossil replicas you can touchThe displays interpret extinct creatures that lived in this region with fossil replicas.
The displays interpret extinct creatures that lived in this region with fossil replicas. They are tactile and include Braille. Expect an interpretive walk rather than exposed fossils along the path.
Getting thereThe boardwalk starts beside the Fossil Exhibit Trailhead parking area on SD-240.
The boardwalk starts beside the Fossil Exhibit Trailhead parking area on SD-240. The lot serves cars and buses or RVs and has a restroom. The short route is fully accessible. Pets are not allowed on Badlands trails, so dogs cannot join the walk.
More fossil contextFor more, the separate Ben Reifel Visitor Center has museum exhibits and a working Fossil…
For more, the separate Ben Reifel Visitor Center has museum exhibits and a working Fossil Preparation Lab. That is a separate stop, not part of this loop.
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.
