ben reifel visitor center

It's the main headquarters of "Badlands National Park" and is about 50 miles southeast of Rapid City. I traveled into the park via Route 44 through the grasslands. While it was interesting to see initially, it soon became repetitious. I then preceded to Interior and then into the park. I used my National Park Pass and proceeded to the 240 Badlands Loop Road. The Ben Reifel Visitor's Center is a short distance from the entrance gate and right on the 240 loop. Ben Reifel was a Sioux activist and the first Lakota to serve in Congress. The center received an upgrade in 2006 with improved classroom and restroom facilities, a 95 seat air conditioned theater and a new video entitled "Land of Stone and Light" which I found worthwhile. Knowing what I am going to see adds a great deal to my experience. Their exhibits include a focus on cultural history, prairie ecology and paleontology. You can pick a map of where fossils were discovered her. The climate change in the Badlands is reflected in their displays. From shallow sea (75-67 million years ago). to a hot/wet tropical environment, to a drier and cooler environment is presented with interactive displays, dioramas of prehistoric fauna and flora, as well as, information boards. This is also where you can take a daily Ranger hike, a Ranger led program during the summer and information about all the hiking trails. The Badlands National History Association operates a bookstore that sells diverse and interesting items not found elsewhere. Cedar Pass Lodge is about a 1,000 feet away and offers a restaurant and sleeping accommodations.

We started here and found out all the places we wanted to visit in this large park. There are great places here to take some pictures and they have a gift shop with some interesting items. The staff is very well informed, friendly and willing to answer any questions.

Nice exhibits, helpful, friendly rangers and good information about the history, geology and ecosystem of the park. Water available to fill your bottles or packs and a good starting place for exploring the Badlands

We decided to stop at the Visitor Center on our way through the Badlands. It has so much more than I imagined. There is a 3-D walk-through display with the history of the Badlands. So much info that you need over an hour to see it all. There is also a separate room where they are working on the on-site preservation of fossils, bones, etc. Staff was very informative without boring. Worth the stop...plan plenty of time in your schedule to look around. Also there are water fountains set up to refill water bottles...nice additional perk.

The Ben Reifel visitors center was great. It's a beautiful facility and there are tons of things to see and learn about. The gift shop was also nice. The park ranger was super friendly and I love the map on the wall that show the areas where certain animals are to be found.

Although the gift shop is a bit expensive (to be expected) the rest of the visitor center was well taken care or and had a lot of neat information on the Badlands, both myself and my 6 year old really enjoyed learning more about the area we were adventuring.

The Ben Reifel Visitor center is near the east entrance to the park and gives a good overview of what is there. We actually stopped on our way out but it provides a good prospective on arrival. No fee for the visitor center. It's not large, not sure I'd want to stop during tourist season. There is a 20 minute video in the theater, hands on exhibits for children, geology and wildlife exhibits as well an interesting Lakota exhibit. The bookstore has a lot of books on Native American topics and a number by local authors. Picnic area nearby.

This visitor center is A-One as to facilities and is a great source of information for those wanting to explore the Badlands National Park.

Good movie and small but good displays for the Badlands. Nice clean stop for a bathroom break, food and learn about the Badlands and the environment, fauna and wildlife. Adequate parking.

Our bus tour stopped here for approximately 1 hour before commencing the drive through the Park. I would suggest spending some time here and gather information concerning the Park. It is well worth your time.

There is a mini museum here and gift shop here. There are Park Rangers here that can answer all questions. There are restrooms here also.

We began our visit of Badlands with a visit to this visitor center. The staff was very helpful, we found some little souvenirs and we enjoyed a video of the Badlands area. I wish the video had given more information about how the formations were developed. I had read a lot about it, but would have enjoyed seeing the stages and explanations of the different layers in video format.

We agree that this center needs enlarging. A couple of buses and the center gets real crowded. Still the exhibits are excellent, particularly about the archeology exhibits.

Small but is adequate. Can get really crowded... aisles are really close together. Clean bathrooms, small gift shop with standard faire and a few informative exhibits

My girls are 10, 8 and 5. There is a great learning center with fossils. The archeologist were cleaning and preparing fossils right in front of you. Upon planning this trip I did not realize this park was such a large fossil site. My girls left determined to find their own fossils! The gift store is what you would expect from a gift store.